Decision-making
Parents will typically use the following definitions in their parenting plan:
- Informed decisions: the parent designated as the primary decision maker makes the decision and ells the other one later.
- Input Decisions: The parent designated as the primary decision maker asks the other parent for an opinion before making a decision.
- Joint Decisions: Parents are informed, hear each other out, and make a mutual decision together. Parents opting for joint decision making must specify a procedure for when they don’t agree.
Parents are required to designate how decisions will be made in certain areas. Additional areas can be added at the discretion of the parents. Parents should define how decision-making will happen for day-to-day decisions and major decisions.
- Typically, parents will agree that the parent with whom the children at the time will make the day-to-day decisions in both co-parenting and parallel-parenting plans.
- Categories of decisions considered “major” that should be defined in every parenting plan include: Education, Medical and Religion.
- Other areas parents often include: athletics/ extracurricular activities, and selection of childcare providers.
- Other areas we see parents occasionally include: children’s contact with extended family or the children’s friends, and children’s dating.
