Oregon students going back to school after their parents’ divorce may struggle with their academic performance. They are now dealing with the everyday hardships of attending classes without having both parents in the same house when they arrive home. Even if your divorce wasn’t high in conflict, your child still has a high chance of struggling in school.
If you want your child to succeed in the classroom, then both of their parents need to be able to help them whenever they can. This means that you both need to communicate to each other frequently during the school year so you can successfully co-parent your kid even if you two aren’t together anymore. Here are some parts of your child’s life you and your ex should inform each other about:
Their schedules
One of the first things both parents should prepare before the school year starts is their schedules. Child custody during the school year is drastically different than the summer months, so both parents need to review the schedule they decided upon or what the court ordered during their divorce.
However, the child will likely get involved in extracurricular activities such as sports or clubs after school. On some days, they may have to stay for some extra time for an assignment or they decide to go to a friend’s house. If your child informs you on any of these changes over the course of the week, you need to let your ex know and vice-versa. One way to keep the family updated is to include yourself, your child and your ex in an online calendar that anyone can update at any time.
Class struggles
You both need to remind yourselves that parent-teacher conferences still happen at some point during the year. Once they come up, you and your ex should decide if you want to attend it together, or if only one of you should go. If you decide on the latter, the one attending the conference should let the one not going know about everything they learned about their child.
If only one parent tries helping the child out with whatever classes they are struggling in, then there is less of a chance that they will succeed. Unless you have sole custody, your kid isn’t with you every night of the week. Keeping your ex aware of what your child needs help with means they won’t get blindsided when they are asked about a complicated math equation.
Personal problems
There are still plenty of issues that your child will naturally encounter growing up. It’s tough enough dealing with puberty, dating, driving tests and college applications as it is, but now they have to it all with divorced parents.
You and your ex need to emphasize that your separation does not mean that you won’t love your child less or you’ll slack in your duties as a parent. If both of you are aware of any major problems they are dealing with and are willing to help them, it will make the post-divorce adjustment easier for everyone.