Be Careful to Watch Your Language

• This is very important and often overlooked.
• You need to think of your relationship with the other parent as a business relationship.
• When you refer to the other parent as “wife” or “husband” or even “ex-spouse,” you are still thinking married, and not single.
  Instead, refer to the other parent as “the children’s mother/father.”
• Another part to watching your language is your use of vocabulary around the children. Be careful to use terms which are supportive not critical of family members and their actions.
  An example of this may be saying that the children are “living with” or "being cared for" by the other parent instead of “visiting.”
• If you can discover a sense of liking, tolerance or appreciation for any aspect of the other parent's parenting, DO, it will make your children feel more loved and more safe.
• When you are angry about the actions of your children's other parent, express your feelings outside of the children's presence.
• Children observe your actions and listen to your words so don't kid yourself and imagine that your children "don't know" how you feel about the other parent.