Back To Basics Parenting Texas With Christian Parenting Tips And Advice

By Barbara Wilson


Creating a parenting plan to help you govern how you and the other parent will raise your children after the divorce is a critical step. Because your children deserve a stable environment to grow up in with both parents involved, your parenting plan is incredibly important to them. The family court is interested in promoting plans that provide for the children's needs. This article provides you with a Back to Basics Parenting Texas plan.

When you create your basic child-care plan, always be as detailed as possible. Get input from your attorney on what should and should not be included in the document. You can also use custody software to provide you with templates that can be customized to fit particular family needs. Your plan should take care of both short- and long-term issues surrounding raising your children, long after your divorce is final. Here are some of the most common mistakes made in parenting plans:

Consistency. Closely related to this is consistency. Inconsistency will lead your children to feel insecure so always stick with key disciplines and never threaten a consequence or promise a reward without following through. Always be sure that all care-givers are saying the same thing and enforcing the same rules.

Creating a vaguely worded schedule that doesn't detail drop-off and pick-up times. Avoid general wording in favor of language that specifies visitation days, times, alternate plans and what happens in emergencies. Include details on vacations, school breaks and holidays as well.

Rewards for good behavior. Rewarding good behavior, with praise, quality time, or even a small treat, can be a very positive technique when encouraging the behaviors that you would like to see more of in your child. However, it is very important not to mistake bribery for reward. Avoid giving your child a treat in order to stop them from doing something naughty, as they will soon learn that bad behavior gains them attention or gifts; which is exactly the opposite of what you are hoping to achieve.

Love unconditionally. Have you ever felt that you have to prove yourself to God? Because of God's nature, we as Christians understand that God loves us the same no matter what. That is one of the amazing things about His perfect nature.

Ignoring what might happen to one or both parents due to unemployment or disability. Of course, people don't plan to have either of these events happen, it's a good idea to hammer out the details of should such a scenario happen. List what steps you both would take to adjust to such a development, such as suspension of child support, insurance and changes to the visitation schedule.

Chances are you'll have to revise your basic parenting plan several times during your children's growing-up years, because situations arise that you could never anticipate. You also can't predict what things will work for your family and what won't until you implement them. With careful observation, detailed record-keeping and a goal of providing your children with the best possible environments with both parents, your child-rearing plan stands the greatest chance of success.




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