Tips For Keeping Child Custody Exchanges Civil

At best, custody exchanges are likely to be awkward; at worst, we’re talking open warfare.

Unfortunately, however, if you have kids, these interactions are usually a post-divorce reality.

While it may not be ideal for you or your ex, there are ways to handle the tense, unfriendly moments when you’re face-to-face with a part of your past you’d rather not revisit.

How Can You Make Custody Exchanges Go Smoother?

No child wants to watch their parents fight. And as far as you’re concerned, arguing with your ex won’t accomplish anything but raising your blood pressure. Doing what you can to keep things calm is best for everyone.

With that in mind, here are a few tips and strategies to make custody exchanges go as smoothly as possible. Or at least as fast as humanly possible.

1) Make Sure Everything Is Packed And Ready To Go

Before your ex arrives to pick up the kids for custody exchanges, make sure they have everything they need. Pack up everything for the night, weekend, or vacation, and prepare for departure.

- Are they on regular meds?
- Does one of the kids need an inhaler?
- Can your child not sleep without a security blanket or favorite teddy bear?
- Do they have their schoolwork, books, and study materials? (That report on the construction of the Hoover Dam won’t finish itself.)
- Are their cleats ready to go for soccer practice tonight?

Whatever is important, both in a general sense and in a specific situation, pack it up. Double-check, maybe make one last perimeter sweep, and get it ready.

This minimizes the amount of contact you have with your ex and may ease the tension all around.

Best of all, when you take care of everything in advance, you won’t get any annoying late-night phone calls looking for an item you made sure to send.

Related Reading: Parental Evaluations In Oregon

2) Make Custody Exchanges At School

There are also many different ways to arrange to trade the kids with your ex. These strategies diminish the face time you have to endure, preemptively squash any opportunities for conflict, and eliminate as much one-on-one interaction as possible.

Here’s a simple, easy, effective one: Use your children’s compulsory education to your advantage and make custody exchanges at school.

One parent drops them off in the morning, the other picks them up in the afternoon. That way, no one has to see anyone they’d rather not.

As the parents aren’t both there, this can get tricky. Schools have become increasingly aware of custody issues and children’s whereabouts outside of school hours. (Anyone else remember just walking home from elementary school alone like it was no big deal?)

Depending on the age of your kids and the degree of supervision they require, you may want to, or be compelled to make a plan with the administrators.

Related Reading: Best Interest Of The Child

3) Make Custody Exchanges At Daycare Or A Babysitter’s

This has similar benefits and drawbacks to the previous suggestion. You can drop the kids off at daycare and your ex can pick them up. You pass like proverbial ships in the night. Regardless, the result is the same. This may spare you any unpleasant in-person encounters.

It’s a win for everybody.

Depending on the size of the daycare, or if the babysitter only looks after your kids on specific days, it may even be easier to schedule, work out the logistics, and let the appropriate parties know the plan rather than trading off at school.

Related Reading: Dealing With Parental Alienation

4) Make Custody Exchanges In A Neutral Public Place

There’s nothing like an audience to make people behave themselves. So where better to get one than in a public, neutral place?

Pick a location for custody exchanges where both parties will be reluctant to make a scene.

This can be a park, a mall, a restaurant, or a coffee shop. If things are extra contentious, you can even make the swap at a police station or a supervised visitation center, just in case you need a little extra incentive to play nice.

Related Reading: How to Find the Best Child Custody Lawyer

5) Bring A Third Party Along For The Swap

Just as people may be less likely to cause a ruckus in public, they may be on better behavior if someone they know comes along for the ride.

Consider bringing a mutual acquaintance, ideally someone both parties know and trust, like a friend who kept ties with both of you.

This can help put everyone at ease and smooth over what little time you have to spend together. And if things are really bad, it never hurts to have a witness, maybe one taking video with their phone. Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that point because then there are probably much larger issues with which to contend.

On the other side of this situation, if there’s a new spouse or significant other in the picture, don’t bring them. That in itself might incur bad feelings and invite trouble where none is needed.

Related Reading: Child Custody and Mental Illness

An Unfortunate Reality

You may never want to see or speak to your ex again, but unfortunately for you, if there are kids in the picture, that’s not usually an option.

Sure, you can communicate through lawyers and mediators, and enlist all manner of third parties to run interference—there may even be lots of yelling and swear words—but there will still be at least some level of contact and communication during custody exchanges.

Essentially, you have to suck it up and deal.

Even with that reality, there are avenues available to make moments like exchanging custody as painless as possible for everyone. Have a plan, make arrangements, be efficient, let your kids know what’s going on, and, most importantly, keep things civil.

If not for your stress level and well-being, do it for your children. They see and feel your tension and hostility. If you can prevent your emotions from running wild, that only benefits them and is healthier for all of you.