One way to get an edge in a child custody or visitation case is to demonstrate your active involvement with the child’s school and extra-curricular activities. An opportunity that is frequently missed is the opportunity to serve as a chaperone on a school trip. Field trips to museums, band trip to competitions, and "away" games with the football team are all opportunities in which parents are recruited to serve as chaperones.Chaperoning is a way to meet your child’s friends, teachers and coaches. It is way to learn the scuttlebutt as you ride along on the school bus or the caravan to the field trip or the competition. Especially for non-custodial parents, getting involved as a chaperone can raise one’s knowledge level of the child’s activities significantly, and serves to demonstrate the parent’s active investment in the child’s school-related activities. In fact, where the parents are fighting over visitation schedules, the opportunity to serve as a school chaperone may provide a significant opportunity for the non-custodial parent to get extra time with the child without offsetting the established visitation timetable.
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You make a good point. In fact, when my parents were getting divorced some years ago, my mother volunteered as a school coach for the girls' softball team. Chaperoning is a good tactic, but coaching is even better. When my mom served as our team coach, she heard all of the insider gossip, not only about me, but about the other girls and their families. This kind of information empowered her in the custody case. So yeah, I would say chaperoning is a good idea, but coaching school sports is even better.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point (I should have thought of that!).
ReplyDeleteNow that I think about it, there have been quite a few fathers and mothers who I've represented over the years, who served as soccer coaches, Little Little coaches, etc., and they were definitely well-connected to their children's school activities, their social affiliations, etc. Thanks, Maggie, for this helpful comment