1. Parents should aim for a decent, business-like, working relationship with one another that meets the needs of their children.
- Watch your language; be courteous and mutually respectful.
- Keep your feelings in check.
- Respect the other parent’s privacy and expect the same in return.
- Act like a guest in the other parent’s home.
- Don’t expect appreciation or praise from the other parent, but do acknowledge when they show understanding, sensitivity, compromise, or flexibility and support and expect the same in return.
- Keep a positive but realistic attitude.
- Keep your sense of humour and encourage it in the other parent.
- Be reliable; do what you say you are going to do and expect the same from the other parent.
- Be flexible and supportive of the other parent and expect the same in return.
- Be patient; Rome wasn’t built in a day.
- Expect to feel strange about this new relationship at first; give yourself time to adjust.
- Though it may be difficult at first, don’t give up; the effort is worth it.
2. In all interaction between parents, use good communication practices.
- Be explicit with the other parent.
- Direct communication between parents should be preferred at all times; do not communicate through third parties, especially the children.
- Say what you mean and mean what you say; make no assumptions.
- Double-check your verbal understandings; to build trust, don’t take the other parent for granted.
- Demonstrate you understand what the other parent is saying.
- Try to ensure that verbal and non-verbal messages are the same and are not in conflict.
- Know the things that trigger conflict between parents and avoid them.
- Confront only with great care.
- Keep the other parent a person in your mind, don’t make him or her into a monster.
3. Parents should work to maintain a healthy, positive parenting pattern.
- Time with the children is time together, not babysitting.
- Make your children’s needs more important than your territorial rights or your independence; always, children before rules or procedures.
- Respect the other parent’s time with the children.
- Respect the other parent’s parenting style.
- Interfere with the other parent’s effort only if your children need your protection.
- Share information about the children frequently with the other parent; parenting continuity is important as the children move between households.
- Parents should compare notes on the other adults in your children’s lives including teachers, doctors, and other professionals.
- Each parent should be supportive of the other parent’s relationship with the children.
- Don’t use the children to carry messages to the other parent.
4. Parents should work to develop and maintain a healthy, positive relationship with their children.
- Let your children know you are thinking about them and expect them to keep in touch with you.
- Make regular contact with the other adults in your children’s lives, including teachers and doctors and other professionals.
- Talk to your children regularly; young children especially need to understand the changes in their lives in ways that are seeable, touchable, and concrete.
- Give children a say in the decisions that affect their lives based on their age and understanding; ensure that they feel heard, even though adults make all the final decisions.
- Don’t badmouth the other parent in the presence of the children.
- Don’t participate in the children’s angry feelings about the other parent.
- Encourage the children to speak about any difficulties they are having with the other parent, but don’t pursue it at length; suggest other adults with whom the child might wish to confide.
- Don’t ask the children about the other parent’s life or circumstances; respect the other parent’s privacy and give his or her motives the benefit of any doubt.
- Don’t tell the children to keep secrets about you from the other parent.
- Be the grown up.
- Keep changes to a minimum for the first few years especially in regards to young children.
- Never threatened to abandon your children.
- Know and respond to danger signals in your children and get help as required.
- Provide your children with structure and predictability.
- Don’t lead your children to believe that you may reconcile with the other parent.
- Calm your children’s fears and help rebuild trust and security.
- Frequently reassure the children of your love and that you will always be there to care for them and look after their needs.
(Adapted from Therapeutic Family Mediation: Howard H Irving and Michael Benjamin: Sage Publications: 2002)