Working parents can often have a difficult time managing hectic schedules and striking the balance between work and family. This is particularly true for separated parents. This can include picking children up, and dropping them off at nursery and school. There are also extracurricular activities such as going swimming, being a member of Brownies, playing football, doing gymnastics or taking music classes.
When separated parents live in different areas it can be challenging to manage their children’s schedules well. Technology may be able to assist with this. This technology can be used by parents and children however, it is always important to note that parent’s ought to monitor their children’s use. There are a wide variety of apps that can assist separated or divorced parents in managing their own calendars, as well as the schedules of their children. This can assist parents in ensuring that they are able to spend quality time with their children and achieve a work-life balance.
Schedule And Plan Ahead
It’s likely that some parents will have to deal with the additional challenge of being separated from their partner, forcing them to organise their family life and family schedules across multiple locations. Due to the fact that children’s and parents’ schedules are changing constantly, it may appear as though an assistant is required to plan and organise each and every week. The hiring of a personal assistant is not likely to be a workable solution for the majority of households. On the other hand, there are now a number of apps that can be downloaded to your mobile phone or tablet that will significantly improve your ability to communicate with your ex-partner about the children and make the necessary arrangements.
Need Help? Technology can help.
There are a number of apps that can assist separated or divorced parents manage theirs and their children’s schedules. The apps aim to improve family relationships and ultimately have a positive impact on the welfare of children and young people. WeParent is another tool to take into consideration. WeParent helps parents to share documents with one another, manage calendars and expenses, and handle letters that each parent may need to read and/or sign.
Divorced parents who wanted to try and communicate better with one another regarding their children’s needs were the inspiration behind the creation of the Our Family Wizard app. This app describes itself as a co-parenting app.
This platform logs the conversations that takes place between parents so that an exact record may be kept of who said what and when it was stated. It is possible to bring in third party family members such as grandparents or additional guardians. These logs are downloadable and, if necessary, could be used as evidence in legal procedures. Our Family Wizard also includes a “Tone-Metre”. This Tone-Metre works much like a spellchecker in that it reviews what has been written and provides alternative suggestions to be used where it deems that the current wording is negative, inflammatory, etc.
The Cozi app includes a variety of features that may be shared across multiple users. These include a calendar, a to-do list, and photo albums, for those times when both parents wish to remember special events.
The judicial system is now recognising the use of these apps and the Courts are increasingly supportive of their use. Apps of this nature have recently seen a rise in popularity and have even gained the support of Sheriff Principal Anwar. Her most recent guidance stated that the judicial system has been made aware of such apps and that they could be used in cases that involve a crave for a section 11 order for contact/residence under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. This is the legislation that governs the law relating to which parent children live with, which parent they have contact with, what form this contact takes and so on.
These apps may be helpful to many parents in minimising conflict and providing assistance to individuals who are going through difficult situations. However, we are fully aware that for some people, these apps won’t be enough to meet their needs.
If this is the case, legal counsel from Clarity Simplicity , specialists in family law, should be sought out as soon as possible to ensure that the appropriate actions are performed as quickly as possible. You may contact us via email or call us on 0141 465 5743.