A divorce can be traumatic for the husband and wife, but even more so for their young and impressionable children. This is especially true if child custody arrangements mean that daughters and sons will not get to be with one of their parents each day. The children can become very stressed, understandably, at the loss of the presence of one of their parents in their day-to-day lives.
Of course, everyone in the children’s lives is affected by their child custody arrangements as well. Sports coaches and after-school program staff need to know who will be bringing the children each day and who will be picking them up. They want to make sure to not release the children to the wrong parent on the wrong day. Schools face the same issue.
One of the best ways to address the issue is to have very clear communication between the children’s school and their parents. If schoolteachers, administrators and associated personnel know the facts of each child’s situation, they can make sure that they are acting as they should. This may mean, for example, knowing that the children’s father will be bringing them to school and picking them up on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays each week and their mother will transport them on Thursdays and Fridays.
School staff should also be told who to communicate to when about the children’s school day. They need to make sure that homework is going with the right parent on the right day, along with notes about conduct in school and upcoming events.
In the 21st century, more fathers and mothers are sharing childrearing in a fair and balanced way from birth forward. This progression from polarized roles of the past also means more shared custody situations in divorces, making communication with teachers more important than ever.
Source: Highlands Today, “Schools follow court orders in custody issues,” Marc Valero, accessed March. 29, 2015
