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Hi everyone, and welcome to another edition of Family Law Matters. I’m Dr. Michael Mantell, and I’m privileged to be joining Bonnie Rabinovitch-Mantel, owner and managing partner of the Primus Family Law Group, a family-oriented firm where experience meets results. Hi, Bonnie.
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Hi, Michael. How are you doing today? Middle of summer. How could we be doing anything but great? Well, it’s a little warm today, sir.
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It is warm, but we say we’re doing great. For many folks who are in family strife and conflict or divorce, especially with children, summer is a time when the kids are off doing their thing, whatever that may be, camp programs, a week here visiting grandparents or something. And maybe this is a good time for parents to step back and think a little bit about a better co-parenting plan for the rest of the summer and on into the coming school year.
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Any thoughts about that, Bonnie? You know, Michael, that’s funny that you bring that up. Just recently, somebody was calling and asking about this very topic because the kids were going away and the parents do have a pretty contentious relationship. And it’s about, you know, what can we do when the kids get back to make the kids’ bellyache go away? Because I often explain to parents, you know, you think that you’re hiding this all from your children, but you’re not.
They sense it, they smell it, they feel it, they know it. They can know. That is why, Michael, a lot of the court orders and most of the court orders do the exchanges at school or somewhere where the parents don’t necessarily have to become face-to-face, not because the parents can’t get along, but it’s to reduce the bellyache that the kids have along the ride from parent A, oh my god, are they going to get into a fight? Are they going to argue? Are they going to be upset? Something that makes the children feel badly.
So, yeah, you know, if your kids are in summer programs and you’ve got a week off without the children, and you can, there are parenting courses, there’s kids turn, parents turn, there’s a whole bunch of courses. You can google parenting courses. They give you so many tips on how to co-parent.
Now, let me be clear. They’re not telling you how to parent your children. They’re telling you how to address and relate to your ex-partner that the reason they’re your ex is you no longer get along anymore, but you’re supposed to get along for your children, which is difficult.
So, there are a lot of programs out there. It is a great time when your kids are gone to see if maybe the two of you can’t get together, text, use Talking Parents, Our Family Wizard, whatever email program you’re using, maybe take a course together, not together, but at the same course. So, you’re learning the same information and you’d be surprised how that’ll help your kids bellyache when they get back from the fun they’re having in the summer.
And not only help your kids bellyache, but it might actually help you as a parent. Use the summer to take some time to reflect a little bit. And as you step back and enjoy wherever you are and have a couple of extra days free, use that to think about, okay, we didn’t get along, we fought, we had high conflict, we did this or that, and we divorced.
But maybe this is a time to do that reflection and think, how can we come back together for the sake of the well-being of our children and ourselves with a little less conflict? And so, we hope you do that. If people have questions about this, Bonnie, how can they be in touch with you? Well, for any family law issue or any family law need, you can reach us at 619-574-8000, or you can go to our website. We have a contact form there at www.PrimusFamilyLaw.com. Sounds terrific.
Wish everyone a happy, happy summer and a good time to reflect. Be in touch, Bonnie. Love you, Michael.
Bye-bye.