5 Tips For Child Custody Battles

There is no situation for which the admonition to “choose your battles wisely” is more appropriate than in the case of a child custody battle.Before you decide to engage in a battle with your ex-spouse over the custody arrangements for your child, take these five tips into consideration.

Take The Battle Out Of It

When two parents do battle over a child, nobody wins. As a parent, it is your job to at all times be the adult in this situation and to protect your child from harm, not only physical harm, but emotional harm as well.Whether it is outwardly apparent or not, your child is going through a difficult time as a result of your divorce.Remember that, especially for young children, the world is a very egocentric place in which to live.Young children tend to believe that the world revolves around them and that anything that happens in their worlds pertains to them directly.Under the right circumstances, being a child who is the star of your own little world can be fun and exciting.But when things go wrong, a child’s egocentric tendencies can wreak havoc on the child emotionally.For example, because a small child naturally takes everything so personally, your child may be experiencing irrational guilt, thinking that the break-up is his or her fault.Your child may be feeling unloved or abandoned, thinking that the parent who made a choice to leave the home did so because of the child rather than because of a deterioration of the marriage.And, a child who closely identifies with his or her parents can easily view one parent’s rejection of the other as a rejection of the child as well.