Divorce can put in a wrench in a lot of areas of a couple’s life, particularly in their ability to continue parenting their children without allowing the stress of their relationship to take over. For divorced fathers in Illinois, particularly those who are the non-custodial parent in their relationship, this challenge is exponentially more difficult. Often, despite their undying desire to continue loving and supporting their children, logistics and opinions make accomplishing this objective quite difficult.
According to verywellfamily.com, the sooner a father is able to negotiate the terms of a parenting agreement with the mother of his children, the more effectively he will be able to establish boundaries and continue parenting as he wishes. A parenting agreement that takes into account the logistical needs of both parents, as well as what is best for their children, has the ability to mediate day-to-day parenting responsibilities and provide clarification as to who is responsible for what.
Even when a father is a non-custodial parent, he still has a valuable opportunity to influence the lives of his children. One way he can do this is by making an active effort to be present in the lives of his children even if the distance is preventing him from seeing them as frequently as he would like. Fathers who make the effort to establish consistency with how often they are able to see, speak with and visit their children will have a much more powerful impact than those who are inconsistent about their efforts to remain involved.
WebMD suggests that when fathers do see their children after they have been visiting their other parent, that they find a balance between inquiring about what activities were done and the fun that was had, with asking too many questions. While saying nothing at all could leave their children feeling uncomfortable sharing anything, asking too many questions may appear suspicious like they are trying to get insider information into the life of their ex.
