It is usually beneficial for children to have at least two parents apiece who are invested in their well-being. It often gives kids strength and confidence to see their parents in the audience, on the sidelines, and in the crowd during special events. However, having your co-parent present at these events may not always be easy on you. If there is bad blood between you, if your co-parent is inconsistent about his or her attendance at these functions or if some other tension exists between the two of you, your co-parent’s presence at special events may be frustrating, to say the least.

However, if it is in the best interest of your child in the long run to have your co-parent present at these events, you may wish to accept that fact. Thankfully, there are a few things that you can do to make the experience of sharing your child’s special events with your co-parent less stressful.

Initially, you may wish to consider creating some ground rules for these functions in your parenting plans. That way, each of you knows what to expect and if there are violations of these ground rules, you will be able to bring them up legally if necessary in the future.

In addition, it is important to remember that these special events only occur so often. Your child is only at his or her specific age once and you likely desire to treasure this time. If you spend all of your emotional energy being frustrated with your co-parent, you will miss out on the spirit of these events and your child’s participation in them.

Source: Huffington Post, “How to Deal With Your Ex at Your Children’s Special Events,” Nancy Kay, Sep. 6, 2013