Children benefit when parents treat each other with respect and can
cooperate. This can be a tough thing to do as a relationship breaks down.

Understanding your personal style of communicating will go a long way to help you make things more comfortable.

Poor communication makes things diffi cult and feeds confl ict, creating power struggles.

Roadblocks to communicating effectively
- One or both parents have negative or hostile reactions to
each other.
Suggestion: try saying it in an email or a letter (always
keep a copy for reference when discussing issues later).
- Interference or distractions from the outside. Suggestion: use a neutral location to meet, for example, a cafe; suggest both parents turn off their mobile phones.
- Always being in a hurry does not allow effective communication to occur. Suggestion: Arrange in advance a time to speak
? not at changeover time.
- Parents need to be clear about what they are saying. Suggestion: Prepare, write down the issues you wish to cover and tick each off as you go through them.
- Parents have different words to express themselves. Suggestion: Keep it simple. Reconfi rm your understanding of the conversation with the other parent ?Do I understand this correctly???

Separate your former roles as partners from your ongoing role as parents.