It doesn’t matter who you are, depending on how your parents raised you and your own personal experience, there’s a chance that you and your spouse will not completely agree how to raise your children. For this reason there are a few areas that you may want to cover in the parenting provisions included in your child custody agreements.
Parenting provisions are short statements in which you and the other parent agree on specific points relating to your future life as separate and single parents. Here are a couple of areas you may want to cover in this regard:
Discipline
One problem single parents face is finding that they are becoming the so-called “bad parent.” Every child needs discipline, but if one parent acts more like a friend and the other parent is the only one to institute discipline, the situation can become problematic as the child doesn’t learn, and one parent has to become “the bad guy.”
Parents should include a provision that says both parents will be responsible to discipline the children while they were with him or her. Parents should also agree to immediatley communicate with one another regarding disciplinary concerns.
Child rearing
As a policy with regard to child rearing, parents should try to agree that they will teach their children to obey the law and their teachers. Parents should also agree that they will be responsible for supervising their children at all times, except when the children have gone to school.
Although it should go without saying, parents will also want to put the following agreements in their parenting plans:
- Each parent will provide a home in which there is electricity, running water and heat for their children.
- Each parent will offer their children a balanced and healthy diet that includes snacks and meals.
Consider your parenting provisions carefully
The more carefully you consider your parenting provisions, the more problems you can avoid later on down the road. You may also want to educate yourself on Nebraska child custody law to ensure you’ve drafted your parenting plan and child custody agreement appropriately.