Divorce is tough on the whole family. No matter how amicably you try and work through things, it’s still a big change for everyone, especially when there are children involved. Understandably you want to try and shield your children from as much of the process as you possibly can.
Going through mediation can be an advantageous tool to use as you work through different aspects of the divorce to reduce the impact on the children as much as possible.
You can arrange child visitation between you
One of the hardest things for children who are experiencing a divorce is custody and visitation, especially when this goes through the courts.
As part of the mediation process, separating couples can be encouraged to come up with an arrangement between them that suits everyone’s needs. More importantly, it should suit the needs of the children without any lengthy and difficult battle for visitation.
It encourages honest conversations
When divorcing it can be tempting to let every conversation become a fight. With mediation, you can avoid dragging up the past and keep the focus on what matters in the present.
This also helps you start to develop a good co-parenting relationship – one that’s cooperative, not antagonistic. This avoids the need for children to be message givers or sounding boards for your co-parenting frustrations.
Mediation gives you the opportunity to explore “out-of-the-box” methods and divorce on your own terms. It gives you and your ex-partner the opportunity to bring your marriage to an end in a way that protects you and your children.