Ideally, your parenting plan will give both parents a chance to spend time with the children. In the past, children have been more likely to land with their mothers. However, the modern focus is centered far more on achieving equality in parenting time and custody.
Why the change? Below are three reasons why it’s good for parents to both get time with the kids.
- Time with both parents can help reduce the odds of issues later on in the child’s life. Regardless of financial status and all else, children benefit for their entire lives when they get to spend time with both mom and dad during their formative years.
- Children want to see their fathers. Research has focused on this because, as noted above, mothers have tended to get custody more often for decades. Children often feel that they’re losing something when that means dad is cut out of their lives.
- Children, if given a choice, generally want to live with both mom and dad. They do not want to live only with one parent. Now, there are other factors that must be considered, but the court does try to focus on the child’s best interests. The children’s preferences and desires have to factor in, especially as they get older.
On the whole, there are clear benefits to making sure that mothers and fathers are both around after a split, and it falls more in line with what kids want anyway. As such, it’s important for both parents to know about their legal rights and what steps to take to create an appropriate child custody plan.
Source: Huffington Post, “What’s the real agenda behind opposing shared custody?,” Rob Hahn, accessed Oct. 18, 2017