Ah, back to school time. This is a time that is often loved by many parents and loathed by several students. But, back to school time isn't always the best time of the year for every parent. For some divorce co-parents, back to school time may bring up several areas of contention regarding child custody, parenting time and extracurricular activities that may or may not have been adequately resolved by their parenting plan. First things first - check your Parenting Plan, Settlement Agreement and the Final Order you received upon your divorce. Consulting these documents often resolves many issues concerning parenting time and how extracurricular activities should be decided upon, paid for, and how they should be scheduled.
Once you and your co-parent have refreshed yourselves concerning the details of the documents governing your arrangement, it's now time to take advantage of the technological tools that are now available to help deal with the difficulties that sometimes accompany co-parenting. One technological tool that is now made available by many school districts is the ability for both parents to gain access to their child's academic progress and development via the schools website. Some schools websites are more interactive than others offering the ability to communicate with teachers and track a particular student's academic progress, homework, attendance and school calendar. If your child's school offers this wonderful tool, make sure to take full advantage of it by checking it regularly. Academic tools such as this often helps parents prevent homework and certain school activities from falling through the cracks.
Alternatively, if your child's school website does not offer an alternate method to communicate with teachers, make sure you share your current email address with your child's teachers and ensure to gather their email addresses. This will make it easier for you to obtain weekly and even daily updates from teachers. Remember though, the communications you share with your child's teacher is not confidential, so be cautious about what you share and refrain from sharing sensitive information about your divorce or any ongoing or impending custody battles between you and your co-parent.
Familiarize yourself with the various apps, websites and shared calendars that can be customized to fit your family's unique needs. Taking advantage of Google's shared calendar function or any one of the co-parenting websites now available such as Ourfamilywizard, Divaroo, Sharekids, JointParents, or Cofamilies can go a long way to reduce conflict and enhance positive communication between you and your co-parent during this new school year.