Co-Parents and Their Families Navigate Back-to-School

Back-to-school season is a fun and exciting time for families, but it can be hectic too. Getting into new routines surrounding the start of the school year comes with a lot of additional juggling for parents and children. From school supply shopping and figuring out transportation methods to coordinating extracurricular activities and more, transitioning out of summer break can cause quite a bit of stress for everyone involved.

For families navigating shared custody situations, back-to-school can be especially challenging. On top of all the regular planning, coordination, and decision-making that every family goes through this time of year, co-parents and their kids must juggle all aspects between two family units. Open communication and consistency between homes can help make this transition easier on everyone involved, which is why it’s important for co-parents to discuss their child’s school supply lists, bedtimes, transportation needs, school meal plans, homework routines, extracurricular activities, special events, family time, and more.

Whether or not it’s easy for co-parents to facilitate these conversations with each other, an all-in-one communication service like TalkingParents can be highly beneficial. Each of our features can be used to supplement back-to-school planning and coordination in different ways.

“I think we all know how chaotic back-to-school can be, and it’s especially tough on the kids. I actively co-parent with my ex-husband, and no matter how many times we do this, it always feels overwhelming because there’s just so much going on this time of year. A resource like TalkingParents is so important for families to take advantage of as they return to school routines and at all times really. Not just for the parents’ sake, but for the kids to feel organized and supported in their educational journeys.”

-Taylor Brown, Director of Customer Experience, TalkingParents

The shared parenting service helps co-parents navigate the school year in the following ways:

• Discuss major decisions like what extracurricular activities your child is allowed to participate in, schoolwork expectations, bedtimes, and more in an organized, documented fashion with Secure Messaging and Accountable Calling.
• Plan and coordinate all aspects of your child’s back-to-school schedule, such as physicals, orientation, after-school activities, and other events with the Shared Calendar.
• Document and share important details regarding your child’s sizes for back-to-school shopping, any contact information that both parents may need access to during the school year, allergies or dietary restrictions that could impact your child’s school lunches, and more with the Info Library.
• Manage and track all school related shared parenting expenses, such as supply costs, lunch money, payments for field trips and extracurriculars, etc., with Accountable Payments.

TalkingParents offers these tools and many more to help take some of the stress off co-parents, especially during the busy back-to-school season. Learn more about TalkingParents and how it supports co-parents and kids during the school year here.