There are times when you may buy something for your child that you believe they need. If you are living with your spouse at the time, then there would probably never be a thought that you’d need to buy two of the same item.
After you divorce or separate from your wife, though, there is a chance that you will want to buy doubles of your children’s favorite things. Why? There’s a higher chance of losing items between homes if your children need to travel with them. On top of that, you may want to protect your own investments and make sure your child keeps certain items, like clothing or expensive electronics, at your home.
Can’t children just transport their property from one home to another?
In a lot of cases, yes. For example, your child can always take their school books or backpack between homes. They might take their cellphones or other individual items that you can’t get duplicates of. However, sometimes, there’s an additional problem where children fail to return home with those items. One parent may take something away or even throw it away if they don’t want their child to have it. This can cause problems, which is why it’s sometimes better to keep the items you buy for your child within your own home.
Here’s an example. If you buy your child a laptop but know that the other parent has a tendency to allow others to borrow your child’s items, then you may want to tell your child that the laptop needs to stay at your home. If they want to have another one, then the other parent could buy one for their home.
Another case when you may want to have duplicate items in each home is with items that your child absolutely must have regardless of where they are. For instance, if your child has a medical condition, having duplicates of their medical supplies in each home is preferable to carrying them between homes and potentially forgetting them.
As a father, it can be hard to decide what you’d like to do about your children’s personal belongings when they move between homes, so it’s important to talk to your ex-spouse and discuss their opinion, too. You both may be able to come up with a good solution, such as a list of items that each of you makes sure is packed before transferring custody each visit.