Parenting is perhaps one of the most difficult jobs anyone can undertake, but on the same note it is indeed also the most gratifying. Having the pleasure to witness your child grow up through all the stages to adulthood, when they leave for college or to start a career, is the greatest moment for any parent. Especially if they adopt the ethos and the character that you have instilled in them for so long and stick to the path that you taught them to follow. In every journey however, there are bumps and challenges that can be expected to arise along the way. It is easy for these challenges to create rifts among the parents and the children. Some challenges, like when parents decide to separate or divorce, can have detrimental affects that change the path for good.
Children often go through a lot of trauma and shock not only from the fact that they will no longer have both their parents in one home, but also from feelings of guilt that it is somehow their fault that this situation occurred. Many children feel like if they had been better, or less demanding, that their parents would have stayed together. In some divorce situations, the parents actually add to the child’s stress by trying to get the kids to take sides, or giving them too much adult information that they simply do not need to know at their age. The kids are left feeling stressed, anxious about what will happen next, and with unstable feelings that they have to somehow choose one parent over the other.
After years of watching custody battles play out to the detriment of the children, jurisdictions across the country are now mandating that parents take co-parenting classes in order to seek guidance on how to best deal with each other and to best deal with their children during this uncertain time. Traditionally, these classes took a lot of time and brought on additional stress; as the parents had to physically drive to, and attend them in classrooms sometimes far away. This meant paying for babysitters, or shuttling the kids over to the other parent’s home and therefore missing work and family time. At a time when parents are trying to maintain as much stability and routine for the kids as possible and spend more time with them, many parents found this an unreasonable task.
However, with the increase in popularity and ease of the Internet, a new solution for these parents is to take these court ordered co-parenting classes online. In this scenario, now all a divorcing parent needs to do is to enroll online for a 10 or 16-hour co-parenting class. The only requirement is a computer and a working network connection. Nothing needs to be downloaded or printed out, so you can sit in the comfort of your own home or at work during your lunch hour to complete the requirement. Online classes enable the parent to go on with the routine of daily life and fit them in whenever they have free time.
Prior to enrolling, just make sure that your court system is now accepting online courses in place of traditional classroom classes. You may have to show them a print out of the homepage or course syllabus, or simply give them the link. Look for a high quality online co-parenting class that is designed by a licensed and practicing Family Therapist and has an A+ rating from the BBB. You will gain an excellent education in how to get through this difficult time of your life while keeping your kids on a healthy, stable and confident path.