Family Law

Different Parenting Styles Can Cause Problems After Divorce

By J. Benjamin Stevens

After divorce, different approaches to parenting can create great conflict between parents. Sometimes one parent is stricter and has more household rules, while the other parent is more permissive, laid back and/or trusting than the other. And if that parent travels for business, that parent may leave teenaged children and their friends unsupervised, even overnight.

These parenting disputes can encourage children to manipulate one or both parents and spur them to exercise their rights, real or imagined, over which parent they spend time with.  They can also lead to wild parties and other incidents that result in property damage, risky and inappropriate behavior, and even injuries.

Ideally, parents will work together to provide children with consistency – and safety.  But things don't always go that well in the post-divorce universe. Sometimes these disputes push parents back into court and into working with various professional coparenting facilitators.  You can read more about this subject in "Joint Custody of Teens Plus Business Travel Can Equal Trouble" by Sue Shellenbarger, published in the Wall Street Journal.

Source:  "Different Parenting Styles May Clash Sharply After Divorce" by Janet Langjahr, published at her Florida Divorce * Child Custody * Domestic Violence Law blog.

Full post as published by SC Family Law Blog on June 30, 2010 (boomark / email).