Divorced Parenting

Last night I attended the Divorce Education class for divorced parents. I was not very happy about going. Really...we've worked out a decent parenting plan that seems to work okay (for the most part) and taking a class on it seemed ridiculous, but whatever. Did I mention it was supposed to be $35 and jumped to $55? And it was supposed to be from 5:30 - 8:00 and instead went from 6:00 - 9:00? And when I got there the teacher didn't have the keys to the building anyway so we were running like 20 minutes late? Yeah. I wasn't a happy camper.

But.

The first part was actually pretty informative. I really and truly got alot out of it. It helped to understand how kids handled being in two homes. The book was more informative than the teacher unfortunately....since he was an odd duck who kept emphasizing making sure your kids don't get hit by cars. But the book is great. One part I really liked was on Anger. One particular part was the Rules For Anger. You cannot hurt yourself, hurt others, and you cannot destroy things. So what can you do? It gives tips on how to identify the underlying issue of the anger to resolve those feelings, or come up with safe ways to manage the anger.

The other part I sooo wish my ex (who was supposed to be there but didn't go) would've been there for was the whole don't talk bad about your ex spouse in front of your kids, because they are apart of both of you and will feel like your talking bad about them too. I've asked them if their dad says mean things about me and they say yes, as does his new girlfriend. Her more than him. Its kind of sad to me, because I've done what I could to make the relationship go as smoothly as possible so it hurts that he has the audacity to do that. But also helps me see that I'm being entirely too nice to him. Not that I will talk bad or anything, but I'm taking his feelings into consideration when he's not doing the same, when I should be looking out for whats best for my family.
And that child support and money are not tied together, unless the person paying child support isn't paying. If thats the case, they probably shouldn't be seeing the kids.

It was good. I'm kind of happy I went. And a really cute guy sat by me in class which was even better. Although he kept saying he wanted to go have a beer afterwards so he isn't my type of guy. But at least he was cute and proved to help time go by alot quicker.