Divorce can wreak havoc on your family. When you have young children, you and your ex have to figure out how to share parenting responsibilities. Your child’s best interests come first and one way that some parents are respecting their children’s needs is through a practice called birdnesting.
According to NBC News, birdnesting allows the children to remain in the family home.
Rotate one apartment
How can you maintain the family home with your former spouse? Many divorced couples do not want to remain together and when using birdnesting, you should not stay in the same house. The children are the ones who remain in the family home. You and your spouse can rent an apartment or home and rotate it between the two of you. When one parent is in the family home, the other would return to the apartment and vice versa.
If you have enough disposable income, you can rent more than one apartment. Many people find one apartment to be suitable, however.
Maintain children’s routines
Children of divorcing parents already have a lot of uncertainty. You and their other parent should try to maintain the structure and routine as much as possible. If your children have the same mealtimes, bedtimes and same rules, the changes will not be as overwhelming. One of the benefits of birdnesting is that children can remain at the same school. They do not have to undergo too many changes at once.
Birdnesting should be a temporary solution. If you birdnest for too long, it can give children false hope that you and your spouse plan to make up. Try to nest for no more than six months so that it is a true transitional phase.