Mindful Co-parenting: A Child-Friendly Path through Divorce

by Jeremy S. Gaies, James B. Morris Jr.

Being good parents is hard even when you’re happily married, but for separated or divorced couples, parenting can be particularly daunting. There is hope.

Mindful Co-Parenting provides divorced parents a practical way through the process that protects their children. In this compact, step-by-step guide, written in a supportive yet direct style, clinical psychologists Jeremy S. Gaies, Psy.D., and James B. Morris Jr., Ph.D., identify what matters most to kids and describe the importance of parents being mindful of their children’s needs and wants. Starting with the question of whether or not divorce is the best option for your family, the book walks you through the process, from choosing the most child-friendly divorce proceedings, to navigating co-parenting after the papers are signed, to handling the future challenges of stepparenting and other issues that may arise.

By simply paying attention and planning ahead, you and your ex can reduce the potential negative effects of divorce on your family. Learn how to create a comprehensive parenting plan that can begin to establish a new norm for the benefit of your family’s new future.

Genres: Parenting

143 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 2, 2014

Reviews

[ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet

A general approach to the topic. It touches on all the things you need to consider without going too in depth on any one thing. Most useful for those considering or freshly into a divorce because it doesn't cover in much detail life past that.

[Bernd Schiffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good and solid advice. Covers a lot of legal aspects. Tone rather neutral. Lots of helpful lists, such as "Here's everything you should cover in your co-parenting plan". Learned also helpful concepts, such as the right of first refusal.

[Lottie Hughes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite this book being centered on mindfulness, there appeared to be quite a lot of judgement coming across - although this likely wasn't the intention. I noticed many labels banded about, and the assumption that any parent for example with a mental health issue, would not be able to do certain things.

I feel like this did take away from the book a bit. I was looking to read something that was positive, focused on our child and finding a way forward that first and foremost is positive for our child but also as positive for us.
Yet this book felt a little like a horror story in terms of the difficulties your child would face as a result of you getting a divorce - even if that divorce was for safety reasons.

I think perhaps some of it may be that I am in the UK so a lot of the options mentioned are not on there.
Equally, it didn't explore very much what happens if a parent moves away. Perhaps it is not as common as I am led to believe?

One thing I did notice was that the first few chapters focused on divorce and whether you should, and if you did, what routes to take on that. For my situation, we are further down the line than that so if you are too then you may wish to skim read the first few chapters. I do wish I'd read this book in the early days; perhaps a lot could be different but who knows.

Having said all that, there have been things that I have taken from the book. I have made notes and taken ideas to implement so I wouldn't say don't read the book, I just don't know if it was as mindful as I had hoped.

All in all, it is a fairly easy read and certainly if you feel you are fairly typical, ie you live near each other then this is a good, short read to just give some ideas.