Parents who have been ordered to participate in supervised visitation as part of a child custody matter often experience a wide range of emotions:
- If you are the visiting parent, you may feel like you’re being punished. You may feel so uncomfortable trying to engage with your child while someone else is just sitting there watching you. You may feel angry because you believe that the other parent manipulated the situation and because you believe that you deserve more than what you got.
- If you are the custodial parent, you may feel resentful. You may feel like you do all the parenting of the children and like the other parent doesn’t deserve to even see the kids. You may even feel like the visits are harmful to your children because the other parent is so unfit to adequately meet their needs.
But no matter which side you are on, try to remember that most children benefit from having relationships with BOTH parents, as long as those relationships can be maintained in a safe, healthy way.
With that in mind, try to make the experience a good one for your child. Keep the adult issues between the adults. Be upbeat and positive (or, at least, neutral) about the experience and the other parent.
Do you have California child custody concerns? To discuss them with a San Francisco family lawyer who represents women in child custody disputes, contact the Law Offices of Paul H. Nathan at 415-341-1144.
