How to move on from your ex when you have a child
How to Be a Great Co-Parent With an Ex (When You Still Have Feelings)
Relationships aren’t built overnight. All lovers create a story filled with moments that once had so much meaning. But not all relationships last.
And once they’re over, sometimes the thought of your ex makes you angry, but sometimes you mourn the loss of your lover.
This powerplay of emotions is worse if you and your ex have a child together. As co-parents, the two of you are bound together—whether you like it or not.
The fall of a relationship is painful and sad. When there are children in the mix, the situation can become even more emotional, even volatile.
So, how do you move on from heartbreak and effectively co-parent with an ex?
Keep reading for some tips on managing the conflict and pain associated with a break-up so you can be the best parent to your child.
Take Time to Heal
While some people break up amicably, no break-up is ever mutual. Someone will always be more hurt than the other, even if the decision to end the relationship was a logical one.
If you’re hurting from a breakup, it might feel impossible to raise a child with the one person in the world who loves your child as much as you do.
It’s essential that you take time to heal.
Usually, a breakup requires space. Taking time away from each other, letting the metaphorical scrapes and cuts heal will slowly make your relationship better.
You must be okay with lessened contact and communication—aside from the conversations regarding your child. The awkwardness will pass, even if there are negative feelings in the meantime.
You should be kind and supportive to your ex, but it’s acceptable to not be best friends. It doesn’t mean you won’t get there in the future.
What Does Effective Co-Parenting Look Like?
In a healthy co-parenting situation, both parents are involved in the child’s day-to-day life. Co-parents communicate effectively and share the responsibilities of parenting—including the financial, logistical, and emotional ones.
To be a good co-parent, you must communicate respectfully when hurdles come up and work together in the best interest of your child.
In most healthy co-parenting relationships, parents allow each other to express their own parenting style when they are with their child.
Co-parenting doesn’t have a definition—it’s more of a lifestyle. It’s communicating and collaborating with your ex in a way that is peaceful, respectful, fair, and with your child’s wellbeing in mind.
Boundaries Are Essential
It’s common for people to change after a separation. When you are forced to move on from a relationship, you have to unlearn your former partner.
Things that used to be your business aren’t anymore. You don’t have the right to ask personal questions, and you’re not entitled to the answers to the personal questions you do ask.
In the beginning, it’s best to limit any conversation to those about your child. As time goes on and you share endearing or funny stories about your child, you will naturally begin to feel like friends again. Just don’t expect this to come immediately.
Your former spouse doesn’t need to know if you’re going on a date or if you’ve got a new hair cut. They don’t need to know anything that doesn’t pertain to your child, and neither do you.
Put simply, you’re entitled to your privacy. And so is your ex. Try hard not to blur the lines with your ex. Parenting alone is hard, especially when you’re hurting, but it’s essential to move on and be separate people.
Remember That You’re Family
Maybe it doesn’t sound ideal right now, but like it or not, your former spouse will always be family.
Because you have a child between the two of you, you need to embrace them as family, as well as any new partners that come into the picture. If you can, be friendly and respectful to their new partner.
At the end of the day, you want your child to look around and be surrounded by people who only want to see them succeed. So, settle in. Do what you can to be together around your child. If the wounds aren’t too fresh, schedule family nights—play games, take walks, keep it light—and make it consistent.
Communicate as a Team
While it might be hard to have conversations with your ex after a difficult breakup, try to take the emotion out of the conversation. Disagreements will arise, and it’s vital to keep heated moments behind closed doors and away from your child.
If you know you’re going to have a difficult conversation, schedule it in advance and meet at a neutral location.
And if a conversation can’t wait, only communicate in front of your kids if you can do it wisely. If you’re capable of working things out amicably, it can be good for your child to see you working through a disagreement together.
Above all, remember never to get personal and be respectful to one another.
Be Flexible and Accessible
Again and again, you will hear that consistency is key. It’s true, you should strive to make your child feel stable during shaky times. However, you should also be flexible.
When you request a change to the schedule, give your ex the benefit of the doubt when it comes to forgiveness and scheduling. This means you should switch days when necessary, welcome your ex to family events, and invite them to your child’s important events—even if it hurts to do so.
Always make an effort to stick to the schedule, but be open to change, especially if it’s easy to accommodate. Don’t deny your ex time just to be difficult because one day you might need their kindness in the same situation.
You should also try to be available to your ex, even if your instinct tells you to ignore their attempts at conversation. Don’t inconvenience yourself to take their call every time if you’re not available, but pick up the phone when you can.
Your child will appreciate seeing the two of you communicating efficiently, respectfully, and kindly.
Navigate Conversations With Your Child Carefully
It’s absolutely essential that parents don’t speak ill—or allow a third-party to speak negatively—about each other. It’s easy to get nasty and want to get even by insulting your ex behind their back, but the consequences to your child are potentially huge.
Each time you speak negatively around your child about someone else, you’re setting an example for them. You might also be making them feel insecure, as many children see themselves as a blend of their parents. If you and your ex openly hate each other, it drains your child’s self-worth.
When parenting alone, it can be tempting to talk to your children as if you’re friends—discussing adult topics such as parenting plans and money, and throwing ideas at the wall with them. While you should give your children room to make decisions, their freedom to choose should be limited.
Let your child pick out their clothes, but don’t let them make big decisions such as where they will live and when. Giving a child too much power actually has a negative effect on them—they can begin to feel guilty or anxious.
Find a Support Network
When tensions are running high while co-parenting, it’s vital to have a support network to help you navigate difficult times.
Confide in a friend who can help you see both sides clearly, seek out the advice of a trusted religious leader, or join a supportive Facebook group.
Whatever is happening in your life, you’re not alone, and you might find comfort in talking to others who are in the same situation.
Use Tech to Your Advantage
Co-parenting and technology go hand-in-hand. When raising kids in two households, technology keeps things easy and interesting.
For example, you can set up a digital diary for your ex and you to share. Write notes about cute things your child does or funny things they say. Add photos and thoughts from two different perspectives—you can even add voice messages or videos. The possibilities are endless.
You can also take advantage of video-call apps such as Skype, Hangout, and FaceTime. These apps are useful in long-distance co-parenting situations. The long-distance parent can be a part of your child’s daily life. Call them during bedtime or during trips to school in the car.
As your child observes you having conversations about everyday life with your ex, this will ensure him or her that you’re on the same team. They don’t need to know how complicated it is to co-parent—just show them that you’re trying.
Finally, try installing a co-parenting app that allows you and your ex to coordinate calendars, expenses, schedule switches, and more. By getting organized and staying on top of medical records, child-related finances, and more, you’ll always know what’s around the corner. You’ll be more confident in conversations with your ex if there is a disagreement.
Get a Co-Parenting Agreement
If you find that you’re having trouble communicating with your ex, try asking an attorney to draft a co-parenting or custody plan. You can also draft one yourself if you feel comfortable doing so.
Then, you can keep this document between the two of you or file it with the court system. It’s a plan that serves as a friendly reminder that you have promised each other to raise your child in a way that benefits them the most.
A co-parenting agreement serves as a contract that addresses how both parents should behave toward each other and their children. This is in an effort to raise healthy, happy kids.
What’s Addressed in a Co-Parenting Plan?
If you’re filing for custody, the court may ask for a plan that includes an agreement upon the following issues:
- Regular time-sharing schedule
- Holiday and summer time-sharing schedules
- Child support
- Payment of child care and extracurricular activities
- Payment of children’s health insurance and medical expenses
- Restrictions on how far the parents can live from one another
- Keeping each parent informed about important issues affecting the child
- Sharing decisions about religious education
You can tweak a co-parenting plan to include other issues, such as:
- Access to other relatives
- Rights of first refusal
- Use of a shared calendar or co-parenting app
- Transportation costs
- Meeting locations
- Co-parenting communication (i. e. the number of hours each parent has to respond to communication)
- Time-sharing for life events
If you’re wondering whether something is important to include, you should probably include it. Add anything else you and your ex typically argue about so that it’s clear and in writing to refer to when emotions run high.
Co-Parenting With Feelings Is Possible
At one point in time, you and your ex loved each other enough to have a child together. Sometimes things don’t work out between people, and while that’s unfortunate, it shouldn’t be the end of the world for your child.
You must embrace the fact that you’re separated and have to maintain a relationship with your ex for the sake of your children. You are bound together forever through the child you made together.
Learn how to let go and be a responsible co-parent so that you can raise a happy child.
2houses is an app that can help you improve your family life by offering various tools and services related to co-parenting success. You can manage shared expenses, use a shared interface to send secure messages, log medical information, and more.
If you need help navigating your co-parenting relationship with your ex, consider downloading 2houses and using it as a hub for all things co-parenting.
How to get your ex back... When you have a child together!
So you and your ex broke up and you are still hoping to get back together, for you but also for the kids? Are you prepared to prove to him that you can make him happy in the long run? Are you prepared to put in the work and figure out how to get your ex back? If so, I am here to help!
I have helped countless individuals overcome a separation or even a divorce in order to get back with a boyfriend or husband. I understand the added pressure that comes with raising a kid together or on your own; and why you would be willing to do anything to get your ex boyfriend back when you have a child together!
There are certain ground rules that you will need to respect in order to give yourself a chance to prove to him that you should get back together. Every breakup is different but there are overarching rules that most people need to implement to inspire an ex to trust and love you again. Through this article I will help you lay a stable foundation; and enable you to move forward confidently in the process of getting back with the man you love!
How to get an ex back: Don’t fight or argue over your children
Breakups are always complicated to handle; and few couples are able to stay on good terms after a separation. Having kids together adds a level of complexity to a breakup. It can make it even more difficult not to fight or argue constantly when it comes to issues such as custody, or any other important decision linked to your kids’ education and upbringing. Many people just can’t seem to get enough perspective to do what is in the best interest of their kids; and others are just too selfish to try to find a healthy compromise for all parties involved.
I understand how your emotions can get the best of you in such situations. Not only are you losing your boyfriend or husband, but you are also under the threat of losing your children as well. If you are wracking your brain thinking “How do I get my ex back,” you will need to do everything possible to not argue or fight over your children. This is actually an advice that should be applied to everyone, even those who are simply looking to move on; fighting over your kids will have a negative impact on their psyche and will make them insecure in some way shape or form as they are growing up.
Your ex boyfriend is probably looking to prove to himself and to others that your relationship is doomed and that he needs to move on to be happy. Don’t fall for his traps or provocation! To get your ex back, you absolutely must keep your cool and diffuse all contentious situations that will be linked to your kids; at least to the best of your abilities. I obviously do not recommend giving up custody of your children with the hope to get back with their father; but really try to think about your non-negotiables and narrow them as best as possible in order to come up with a compromise for issues that could potentially tear you further apart.
Get your ex back when you have a child together: Prove you can make them happy
Having a child with someone that you are hoping to get back with can be a huge advantage. You share something in common that is more precious than almost anything else in this world. In essence you have a distinct leg up on any other woman that may be trying to grab his attention. Furthermore, odds are that you will have to stay in touch and see each other for your kids. This is a crucial point because having a communication platform is essential to be able to ultimately get back with an ex. You will be able to showcase your changes and prove to him that you can make him happy!
If you truly want to get your ex boyfriend back when you have a child together, you need to be patient and to be willing to prove your change over time. Don’t try to rush to get him back because you run the risk of being too needy; of putting him on a pedestal and to never again be a challenge for him. If he is the man of your dreams, you should be willing and able to put in the necessary work to evolve over time, to once again become that woman that inspired him at the beginning of your relationship!
Let me put it another way; your goal should not be to get back together, but simply to prove to him that you can make him happy. That’s it! If your goal is to getting an ex back, you will act in a way where he will see you coming from a mile away. You won’t be looking to change for you but only for him; simply to tell him “look what I’ve done…for you”! But your ex doesn’t want to hear that. Your ex isn’t looking for someone who will be madly in love with him or obsessed with him. He is simply looking for someone who will inspire him; someone that will make him happy!
How to get your ex boyfriend back when you have a child together
As with any ex, they will need to see improvement on your part if they’re going to get back together with you. When it comes to getting your ex back, you need to make sure he understands that he’s not just stepping back into the same relationship that wasn’t working before. Like I always say; break ups always happen for a reason so when you get your ex back, you need to be able to fix whatever was leading you down the path towards separation.
The thing to keep in mind here is that generally speaking, men respond better to actions than lengthy conversations on the subject. Yes – communication is vital, but a little more focus should be placed on actually doing the things that need to be done.When you’re still working on getting him back, don’t hesitate to post pictures on social media of all the great things you’ve been doing and the improvements you’ve been making in your life. You don’t need to post a million shameless selfies, but if you’re going to the gym you can post something about it, or if you’ve been trying something new share it!
When you’re getting back together, if the issue behind the break up was The Routine, come up with exciting propositions (trips, impromptu picnics on the beach, trying rock climbing etc…), or surprise him! Remaining active in the relationship will prove to be one of the best ways to get your ex back and keep him!
Get your ex girlfriend back when you have a child together
Generally speaking, men are definitely visual creatures, and women respond positively to clear and honest communication, especially when you’re working on how to get your ex back! Men tend to have a bit more difficulty opening up about what they’re feeling and what they want, so when you’re working on getting your ex girlfriend back and keeping her, don’t underestimate the importance of talking to her and showing her how much she matters to you. One of the best ways to do this is to write a letter. The Handwritten Letter technique is a tried and true method that can work wonders in even the most complicated situations.
It allows you to maintain a respectful amount of distance while you’re in a tense period, and it allows you to organize your thoughts and present them very clearly. If you want to know how to win your ex back and make the relationship better than ever, it’s crucial to know how to express yourself in a constructive manner.
Learning how to properly communicate on a regular basis is one of the foundations of a healthy, fulfilling, and long lasting relationship. If one person is always in the dark, whether it is you or your ex, I can guarantee that you’re not going to be feeling at ease in the relationship.
How to get my ex back: It’s most likely still possible!
One of the questions that people ask me during one on one coaching sessions is the following: “Adrian how can I know if it’s still possible to get back with my ex?” It’s a legitimate question. What people are asking in essence is: should I keep fighting for this person? Do I still have a chance? And what should I do to get my ex back?
Through my years of experience coaching people just like you who ask me these questions I have come to realize that there always seems to be a window of opportunity to get back with an ex; when you have the right approach, the right attitude or mindset and when you are willing to put in the work! So to answer the questions that I referred to above: Yes, you should keep fighting to get back with your ex if he is The One.
You probably have been letting your emotions guide you; you are reacting to him more than acting for yourself and that’s why you haven’t made much progress yet! Don’t worry, you still have a chance to win your ex back if you follow a well thought out game plan that we could create together! And finally start taking control of the process to get back with your ex today; don’t act for him or even for your kids, but do things for you and your own personal growth and well-being!
I would like to share one of my most cherished secrets with you; when it comes to getting back your ex, most people feel like they are sad or depressed because the man they love has left them. Perhaps you too believe that once you will get back together, you will be happy. But in my opinion that’s a myth! I believe that you were unhappy or somehow not at peace and so your ex left you or your relationship ended. I also know that when you will be happy or find some inner peace you will be in a prime position to get back with the man you love. Not the other way around!
Don’t wait a second longer and get started right away with a new mindset and approach. Find your inner peace and once again seduce the man you love. For your sake and for your families sake!
I will be here to help if need be.
The coach to call if you are desperately looking for how to get your ex back when you’ve got a child together.
Sincerely,
Adrian
Why sometimes you want to return to an old love and when it makes sense
- Brian Lufkin
- BBC Worklife
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Image caption,Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are back together after 17 years
You broke up, got divorced, ended your relationship... And there were good reasons for that. So why do so many couples get back together even years later? Why is the thought of reuniting with your ex so appealing?
Earlier this summer, 17 years after their breakup, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got back together, sparking a flurry of nostalgic social media posts, discussions about the twists and turns of glamor stars' lives, and all sorts of cross-cultural analytics.
Lopez and Affleck are Hollywood's star couple, so the tabloids and Twitter couldn't pass by and choked with delight.
But perhaps the most understandable reason why people are so excited about what happened is that Lopez and Affleck's reunion turned out to be more than just another "star gossip" story. Looks like Jennifer and Ben are in love again.
For many people, returning to an old love, to a past passion is one of the components of a relationship. This part can bring a negative result (there are many stories about such unsuccessful returns that all-knowing girlfriends and friends will tell you on occasion), or even turn into a nightmare when your ex (or ex) begins to persistently pursue you, imposing with his idea to resume relations.
However, the restoration of former relationships can look very tempting and for some even become the goal of life - especially when we have before us examples of reunification, reminiscent of a story from a fairy tale.
- Attraction of despair. Why is it so difficult for us to let go and forgive our exes
- What is the danger of believing in true and only love
- Agents of love and divorce. Why do Japanese people hire wakaresasei seducers
In addition, there is an amazing statistic that 50% of young couples break up and then reconnect.
Life during the pandemic has accelerated this process even more for some: amid the terrible news, in the loneliness of lockdowns, many have reached out to their exes, hoping to rekindle the flames of old love (or at least affection).
According to experts, if at the same time both exes are interested in restoring the relationship, this can have a positive effect - but on the condition that you are ready to act with an open mind, taking into account the life experience of the past years and on a wave of mutual understanding with your partner.
What is so attractive about returning to an ex?
One of the most important advantages of restoring the old relationship is that we know what to expect.
"There are many great benefits to already knowing someone with whom we want to try building a long-term relationship again," says Michael McNulty, family counselor and psychotherapist at the Gottman Institute in Chicago.
According to McNulty, every couple has their own eternal disagreements - points of potential conflict (such as living together, money, sex, children, friends, family, and so on).
Even happy couples have such points, because the relationship involves two different people with different characters and different views on the environment.
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Image caption,A return to an ex may well have a fairy tale ending, but only if both partners seriously consider what led to the breakup and draw the right conclusions
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According to a study by the Gottman Institute, these "perpetual disagreements" are responsible for 69% of a couple's problems, says McNulty.
It is these problems, now flaring up, then fading, and not some separate event or separate high-profile conflict, that are the real poison for relationships.
"The cause of broken relationships or marriages in most cases is not fire, but icy cold," McNulty emphasizes.
Some couples simply find it difficult to talk to each other or resolve conflicts together on key issues in their relationship. They move further and further away from each other and begin to live not as lovers or husband and wife, but as roommates.
And that's why they want new relationships. Or reconnecting with an old love. However, for such people, Michael McNulty has advice: "If you are in a relationship and thinking about breaking up, be careful: in essence, you are going to replace 69
But going back to your ex, at least you know what to expect and what your disagreements were like. much easier than building brand new ones with someone you don't know very well yet. in Family Relations, Adjunct Lecturer in Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York.
For some, it looks like this: it's better to go back to someone you know something about than to start with someone you don't know anything about.
Change brings joy
And here's another positive thing about returning to past relationships: you understand what has changed since you broke up.
You don't have such an advantage when you start dating a new acquaintance - you just don't know how he has changed over time, whether these were changes for the better, whether he has matured.
In the case of an old love, you can compare "then" and "now." Kuriansky says one of the most common reasons for rekindling a relationship is that both partners feel like they've matured, more mature as a person.
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Image caption,Rekindling the flames of an old relationship isn't for everyone, experts say, but knowing each other, albeit based on bitter experience, can bring benefits
Violette de Ayala from Miami, the head of FemCity, an organization that helps women, spoke publicly about how in 2019she remarried her ex-husband.
"When we started dating again, it was very sweet because we knew each other, but something about us changed," she says. "While we lived apart, we both worked on ourselves in areas that needed, so that in many ways we appeared to each other renewed."
"Certain elements of our personality evolved to make the reunion process wonderful, even though we had to overcome the pain of a past breakup," she adds.
"He doesn't take our relationship for granted anymore. He started to give me things that have a deep meaning. Now from time to time he reminds me how much he loves and appreciates me. Before, all this was not."
But even if you returned to your former partner after a long time and saw that nothing had changed, that all the toxicity of the previous relationship had not gone away - understanding this also gives you certain advantages and will help you avoid repeating the trouble.
"Sometimes, having gained life experience and wisdom in other ways, people think, my God, now I can maybe overcome the obstacles that we once ran into," says McNulty.
However, as he emphasizes, the main thing here is that people should be aware of what insoluble problems they had before, and be ready to honestly tell themselves if something has changed since then.
"Love and sex against the background of the apocalypse"
Before diving headlong into an old relationship, hoping that it will be new, ask yourself why you are doing this. Because a lot of things can go wrong.
A long-time acquaintance can certainly bring some comfort to our lives, but as Judith Kuriansky notes, hopes for comfort can be unfounded - especially now that we live in the midst of the chaos of a pandemic.
Last May, as the world plunged into lockdown, an Indiana University study found that one in five of those surveyed texted their ex while in isolation.
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,Many have tried to overcome the loneliness of the lockdown by calling their ex on
"I call it love and sex amid the apocalypse," says Kuriansky, who studies love relationships between people during crises - natural disasters or acts of terrorism.
She says it's a common tendency to reconnect with her old love because there seems to be no tomorrow.
Now this is happening in Afghanistan, natural disasters, covid - it seems to people that they are living in the era of the coming Armageddon. And they want to return to the person they once loved, next to whom they felt safe.
So, try to answer this question as honestly as possible: why do you want to go back to your old love?
Do you really yearn for old relationships and want to do your best to fix them? Or do you just want to ease the anxiety and anxiety that comes from scary news headlines? If the latter, then take it as a warning bell about the danger.
Kuryansky recommends that you seek the opinion of friends and relatives about your desire to resume old relationships - even before you take the first step towards such a resumption.
Many people will certainly react negatively, especially if your relationship ended scandalously.
However, your goal is not the very opinion of your loved ones. Their reaction can bring you down to earth and remind you why your old relationship was so troubled.
"Be prepared to hear the opinions of others. And most will say: what?! Will you be together again? Are you kidding! Why?"
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Image caption,First, remember why your old relationship was so troubled
"They will bring back the memory of the old days, all those memories," says Kuriansky.
You will have to somehow deal with these memories - and the most difficult thing will be to discuss this not with family and friends, but with your ex or ex.
"It was a pretty difficult moment that we had to overcome," de Alaya recalls. forward through forgiveness, communication, and the feeling of starting all over again, with a clean slate."
It seems to many of us at times that we yearn for a past love that was once lost. If we approach this feeling realistically and intelligently, perhaps something good will come of it. But only if both people are on the same wavelength, if they have the same understanding of what will be required for that return.
Psychologist explained how to build relationships with children from a previous marriage – Moscow 24, 04/26/2022
A child from a previous marriage is a luxury that not everyone can appreciate. But the older we get, the more we fall in love with people who already have children. Family psychologist, supervisor Anna Devyatka tells how to behave in such a relationship, to keep love and romance, despite the difficulties.
Photo: depositphotos/Wavebreakmedia
Traditionally, after a divorce, the question arises: with whom do the children stay? Most often - with mom, and dad switches to the mode of the parent of the day off. In such a situation, we are faced with injustice: no matter how successfully a woman copes with raising children, in the eyes of the public she will be a "divorced woman with a trailer. "
At the same time, if the situation is mirror-like and the children stay with their father, then let us remember how Novoseltsev is described in Office Romance: a bachelor with two children. It sounds much more respectful and opens up more opportunities to create new relationships.
Restoring women's self-esteem
The first task to deal with is the restoration of self-esteem and the understanding that you are not only a mother, but also an attractive woman.
"After the divorce, there was not only a hole inside, there was a complete feeling of loss. It took me a long time to recover from the betrayal, it seemed to me that since they cheated on me and abandoned me, then as a woman I am worthless," says Olesya.
Only after a year of psychotherapy, when she felt better and was able to trust men again, did the girl see that they were interested in her, but were frightened when they found out that there were children.
The role of a savior
Men are afraid of being assigned the role of a savior. Thus, they will be obliged to take on all the hardships of a woman's life and solve all her problems. Single mothers, in turn, mistakenly think that they will meet a man who is like a prince from a fairy tale: he will defeat the dragon and save the princess from all problems. Of course, such stories do occur, but they are extremely rare and do not always end in a happy ending.
The role of the savior is a dependent relationship marker, and any rescue will need a reward in the form of obedience or overcontrol. The "rescued" princess finds herself indebted with guilt.
Therefore, before entering into a relationship, you need to put your life in order so that no one has to save you from anything, so that you feel like a self-sufficient woman, and not a "divorced woman with a trailer." Male help is good, but you also need to be able to take care of yourself.
A woman who took place
Photo: depositphotos/dima_sidelnikov
A woman with children is a whole world in which she can build rules and relationships so that everyone is happy. As soon as a man appears in this system, the question arises about the seriousness of his intentions and the strength of his desire to enter the family. He will not replace the father of the children, but he will claim the role of a "significant male figure" - as it is called in psychology.
When children are small, it is easier for them to accept their mother's new friend and recognize his authority unconditionally ("because mother said so"). In adolescence, they can begin to test a man for strength and compete for who is more important. At this moment, adults need to accomplish a feat: talk a lot with children and with each other, pronounce fears, explain the plan for the development of relationships.
It is important to convey to the child that it is necessary to spend a certain amount of time getting to know each other's characters and building a way of life. Life does not stand still, and therefore it is quite normal to want to feel loved and create new relationships. This approach will allow sharing responsibility for behavior. Teenagers will understand that they are considered, and they will respond in kind.
Can I accept someone else's child?
Many men set themselves the task of accepting someone else's child as their own. The younger he is, the easier it is to do this and how to deceive himself. After all, the character of a person consists of 60% of education and the influence of society, genetics affects only 40%. True, it can turn out to be an awkward situation if the child's father remained in touch. In this case, deceiving yourself will not work, no matter how hard you try.
To accept a child means to take part of the responsibility for him, worry and worry about his future, wish good and be patient with shortcomings, help to study life. Moreover, the older the person, the clearer the boundary should be: I'm not your dad, but this does not prevent you from worrying about you, communicating and planning a joint future.
Major mistakes
Photo: depositphotos/Wavebreakmedia
Marina brought a man into the house, and he immediately began to establish order: to strictly demand obedience and cleanliness. The children rebelled and turned to their mother for help, but did not receive support, which they perceived as a betrayal. It was not clear to the offspring why a stranger suddenly began to scold them, and his mother protected him. Adolescents have a feeling that they have been abandoned, they begin to be jealous and defiantly behave: lie, steal, give ultimatums and leave home.
It is better not to allow such an uncontrollable situation and make sure that children in the conflict are heard, and the last word remains with the blood parents. It is better to spend an hour discussing what happened than to completely lose the child's trust. Marina realized this only years later and still regrets that she put a man above children.
Marina's example illustrates another mistake: her new man quickly entered the life of the family, chopped firewood, and just as quickly left, leaving her with even more problems.