Lesson 7: School Selection, Activities, Caretakers, and Large Expenses
Co-parenting with a narcissist can be a challenge, especially when it comes to making decisions for your children. Narcissists are often unwilling to compromise or cooperate, and they may use decision-making as an opportunity to punish or control you. This can make it difficult to ensure that your children's needs are met. This lesson provides information on how to anticipate and prepare for common co-parenting decisions. It also discusses how to develop a dispute resolution plan in case you and your ex cannot agree on a decision.
You will learn how to:
- Avoid going to court every time you can’t agree on something
- Establish consequences if your toxic ex frivolously taking you back to court
- Anticipate dozens of specific scenarios that will arise
- Develop a dispute resolution plan for those things that you cannot anticipate
Lesson 8: Medical and Safety
This lesson provides information on how to prepare for medical care and safety decisions with a toxic ex. Toxic individuals may use medical care and safety decisions as an opportunity to punish or control you. They may deny your children medical care, refuse to provide access to medical records, or make unsafe decisions about car seats, booster seats, vaccinations, allergies, and medications. This lesson discusses how to anticipate the toxic individual's likely reactions and how to protect your children from harm.
You will learn how to:
- Ensure that your co-parent is giving your children their medications
- Establish age requirements for aging out of car seats and boosters
- Choose medical providers for your children
- Make medical treatment decisions for your children
- Address health insurance, co-pays, and medical-related finances
By following these tips, you can protect your children from the harmful effects of a toxic ex's medical care and safety decisions.
Lesson 9: Parental Alienation, Counter Parenting, and Behavioral Orders
Toxic parents often engage in parental alienation and counter-parenting. This can be a form of emotional abuse that can harm children. Parental alienation is when a parent tries to turn a child against the other parent. This can be done by talking negatively about the other parent, limiting the child's contact with the other parent, or even coaching the child to lie about the other parent. Counter-parenting is when a parent tries to undermine the other parent's parenting. This can be done by making different rules for the child, giving the child different information about the other parent, or even trying to take over the other parent's role in the child's life.
You will learn how to:
- Speak to your child about negative talk from the other parent
- Establish an enforceable behavioral order
- Document a behavioral order violation so that the court will issue consequences