Your child has one childhood. You must decide and act with intention if you are to make that childhood a peaceful one. If you engage in peaceful and constructive communication, not only will your message get through more easily, but you will begin to unravel the ugly communication by not adding to the nastiness.
Parents are encouraged to maintain open, positive and frequent contact with their children. The Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines provide that: “both parents shall have reasonable phone access to their child. Telephone communication with the child by either parent to the residence where the child is located shall be conducted at reasonable hours, shall be of reasonable duration, and at reasonable intervals, without interference from the other parent.”
As you are likely aware, weekly child support does not cover the cost of a child’s extracurricular activities and related supplies. Most parents have a separate agreement or order about how extracurricular costs will be shared. It’s fairly easy to understand that regular school clothes, annual school fees and school lunches are the expenses that are paid by the parent receiving child support with financial support provided by the other parent in the form of weekly child support. It is also easy to understand that the travel soccer team, special cleats required for soccer and the team shirt are extracurricular expenses that are paid separately by parents outside of weekly child support. But what about the confusing gray areas where school and activities meet?
Children grow fast and clothing can seem like a never-ending expense. Both parents should support one another by ensuring that clothing is returned to the home of the custodial parent as quickly as possible, and with as little interruption to the child.