As much as we wish it weren’t true, our relationship with our parenting partner, how we communicate, how we make decisions and how we parent… is closely observed by our children.
Of course we are not going to have a perfect partnership but there are ways we can increase the odds of providing a healthy model.
Below is a list of resources to explore to learn more on this topic including tips on how to come closer together in parenting styles and how to best manage conflict in your co-parenting marriage.
Ideas For How to Deal with the Dreaded Style Clash
When You Don’t Discipline the Same Way from Power to Change.com.
Best Practices for How to “Fight” When You’ve Got Kids
12 Keys To Healthy Partnership Conflict Resolution When you Live With Kids from Aha Parenting.
Parent Arguments: How Do They Effect Children? from Bright Horizons Family Solutions.
Family meetings are a wonderful resource to help find solutions to all sorts of issues that families experience. They also provide a forum for parent to model working out challenges in a positive, open, solutions oriented manner. Here is a guide that I created to help make family meetings EASY.
Having a regular “parenting pow-wow” can also be extremely helpful: setting aside some time each week or month to make agreements on how to handle various parenting challenges, and what you will do when you not not agree on a course of action.
In our recent Roots session we explored the following questions:
- What are the possible effects of disagreeing in front of the kids on the adult relationship, children and on the individual adult?
- What are typical topics that parents and caregivers disagree over?
- What are respectful alternatives when parents disagree?
- What are the possible effects of these alternatives on the adult relationship, children and on the individual adult?
Possible Effects of Disagreeing in Front of Kids
Typical Topics For Parent/Caregiver Disagreements
Respectful Alternatives When Parents/Caregivers Disagree
Possible Effects of Respectful Alternatives
In these last two posters we looked at how parents with different styles, specifically one who is “more Positive Discipline” leaning and one who is less, might support each other best. We came up with DO’s and DON’T’s for each person.
The More Positive Discipline Parent is encourage to:
The Less Positive Discipline Parents who like the More Parent to:
This topic is alive on this seemingly static page! Please use the comment section to add your thoughts and additional resources to share on this important of how parents with different parenting styles can be successful.
