Are you going through a divorce with someone that you just don’t recognize anymore? There was a time that you were in sync, in love and had great plans for the future, but things have changed and instead you are in the midst of a huge custody battle? We recently had a client call in with the story that the other parent was doing everything in her power to make his life as miserable as possible and was using the kids as sounding boards and intermediaries. This is absolutely the wrong approach and is detrimental to their long-term psychological health. The bottom line was that the court had ordered them to take a high-conflict parenting class, but he travels for business and couldn’t make the weekly classes at the local community center but a deadline to complete the course was looming. He had two questions. First, will the court accept online classes? And second, how long of a course did he need because they didn’t specify. He was rather distraught, worried that he wasn’t going to be able to jump through the court’s hoops in time.
The good news is that high conflict parenting classes are available online for this very reason. Online classes are accessible from any web-based computer and at any time of the day or night. This convenience enables parents who travel for business, don’t have childcare to leave the home to attend a course, or are just too busy to get to a traditional classroom each week, the option of learning the material online. We instructed the gentleman not to panic but to go to his judge and request approval to take a 10-hour co-parenting class online. A basic parenting course is generally 4 hours in length, but when the judge is referring parents to a high conflict class, it’s usually 10 or more hours. The extended length coincides with the depth of information the course covers. Both classes cover the same topics, but the 10-hour class goes into more detail.
Often in high conflict divorce situations, one or both of the parents is having trouble thinking flexibly, controlling their stress and anger and are over reacting to situations that arise. If you are sharing custody of children, it’s important to keep your negative feelings about your ex away from the kids. Talk to your friends, counselor, and parents, anyone else but them. Online co-parenting classes teach ex-spouses how to take responsibility for their actions and more effectively deal with stress management utilizing specific researched techniques. Furthermore, a 10 hour program will detail how to communicate and listen to the other parent in a positive way to gain solutions. Learning how to resolve conflict and set up two separate households that are working, as a team to raise the children in a similar way is the most beneficial outcome for the children involved. The bottom line is that kids need to feel safe and have stability and one way to provide this for them is to do your best to get along. Remember you are their role models and the way you behave now is what they will emulate and remember for the rest of their lives.
Take a 10-hour high conflict co-parenting class online to avoid parenting mistakes and learn to work as a team!