Two people are divorced. They have a child. There is separate parenting time for each parent. One parent claims the other parent doesn’t keep a close enough eye on the child. A parent monitors their children in their unique way. What to do if children are not properly supervised?

Click here to watch the video on What to Do if Children Are Not Properly Supervised During Ex’s Parenting Time – Michigan Law

You can be focusing more on parenting style than on providing quality parenting time. Courts avoid getting involved in parenting styles and practices. Maintaining a regular parental time plan is more important to the court. Only when the consequences are undesirable do parenting methods matter. This can be an example of how a certain parenting approach can harm or injure children. Talk to your attorney about this. Be sure to express any worries you have about a co-parent��s parenting approach. It worries you that there might be harm. You fear for your child’s safety. Consult a lawyer.

How do you differentiate custody and parenting time?

In a custody dispute, or other family court issue, a custody and parenting time order may be made. Parenting time and custody arrangements have a significant impact on your children’s life. It has an impact on living arrangements and the frequency of visits with each parent. It has an impact on your decision-making for them.

Custody refers to the duty you have under the law to raise and control your child until they become 18. The court can decide to give one or both of your parents’ custody of your child. Legal and physical custody are the two categories. Legal custody is the capacity to decide critically essential matters for your child. Legal custody entitles you to make choices. Choices about your child’s education, medical treatment, and religious upbringing, among other things. Physical custody refers to who has daily physical custody of your child. It entails physically taking care of and watching over your child.

Both parents can receive legal custody. This enables both partners to have a say in important decisions. Decisions affecting their child’s life. This can mean the child’s education, healthcare, and religious upbringing. Some parents may seek sole legal custody. It prevents an absent parent from having a say in the child’s best interests.

Where a child resides the majority of the time is known as physical custody. Two options in this group are exclusive physical custody and joint physical custody.

The parent who has sole custody is referred to as the custodial parent. This is the parent always with the child. There may not be any overnight stays or holiday visits with the other parent. The non-custodial parent has reasonable parenting time. Once both sides are happy, the specifics can be worked out in a variety of ways. One parent often has sole custody. The other parent is generally absent from the child’s life.

Parents share physical custody of their children. They share the child and divide their time with them. There are many variations of this arrangement. It can mean spending one week with one parent. The following week with the other parent, and so on. It can be spending holidays, weekends, and a month in the summer with one parent. The rest of the time of course is with the co-parent. Spending one night per week and every other weekend with one parent and the rest of the time with your co-parent. There are countless alternative arrangements. In many peaceful divorces, the goal is to have joint physical custody. Custody is distributed as evenly as workable.

A parenting time schedule orders time spent by parents with their children. It is how much time the non-custodial parents spend with their minor children. The parenting time schedule is actually a court order. It is enforced in Michigan by the Circuit Courts.

Michigan Compiled Laws (MCL) 722.27a, specifies what goes into parenting time in a court order. It is taken from the Child Custody Act of 1970 (Act 91 of 1970). The Act is carried out through the family court in each Michigan County. Michigan’s Circuit Court handles family cases.

To assist the Family Court, a Friend of the Court, or FOC, is also available in each County. The FOC routinely examines custody and parenting time concerns and provides guidance. The FOC prepares recommendations about child support, child custody, and parenting time.

One parent has exclusive custody. The other parent cannot prove eligibility for parenting time. It can be due to abuse, addiction, or other factors. Parenting time may not be permitted at all. In essence, parenting time is really a privilege.

In sole custody, parenting time is commonly referred to as visitation privileges. Visitation may be strictly controlled in both location and extent.��

Grandparents can file a petition for visitation rights. This is if their son or daughter is unable to see their children.��

A well-defined parenting time plan in shared custody usually works out equitably. The plan can include the child’s birthday, Father’s Day, and Mother’s Day. I can include anything and all other important and small events.

What is parenting style?

You can take a deliberate effort to adopt your own parenting style. If you don’t, you will probably parent very similarly to your own parents. Parenting styles are frequently passed down from one generation to the next.�� Parenting practices must adjust as conditions change to keep up with the times. Permissive, authoritarian, domineering, and overprotective parenting styles are the most common among adults.

Understand each parenting style option’s advantages and disadvantages. It might help us decide what type of parents we actually want to be and influence our decision-making. Professor Dene Garvin Klinzing of the University of Delaware summarized four parenting styles:

[ 1 ]�� The overprotective parent.��

The parent in this situation wishes to shield their children from bad or negative things in life. It can mean protecting children from injury, pain,�� and sadness. Shielding them from unpleasant experiences, rejection, hurt feelings, failure, and disappointment.

[ 2 ]�� The permissive parent.��

This type of parent is one that fears placing boundaries with their children. This parent thinks a child should stay true to who they are.

��[ 3 ]�� The authoritative parent.��

This is a parent biased towards establishing clear boundaries for kids. This is a parent who acts as a positive role model. The parent recognizes the efforts of the kids.

[ 4 ]�� The authoritarian parent.��

This type of parent is the parent popularly known for being the “because I told you so” type. This is one who is inclined to degrade or diminish a child’s feelings. Disregard the child’s viewpoint.

Under each alternative parenting approach, children will develop diverse temperaments and social abilities. These will depend on how they were raised. There are also significant variances in their later-life achievements. You may believe that your parenting approach doesn’t matter. Especially if your child is a preschooler. The demands of school and extracurricular activities at this level are still low. Your son or daughter is still a young child. Keep in mind that you are laying the foundation now for years to come. There’s a basis for every decision a child will eventually make as they grow up. This basis is built by the way their parents raise them. There are clear connections between particular parenting philosophies and child development.

Different children may need different parenting approaches. It depends on the parents, from the people in their life. It will also depend on their characteristics. It’s likely one parent’s personal style is different from the other. It’s critical to compromise if that’s the case. Talk about the matter in private with your partner, and come to an agreement on what will work best for you both. To prevent resentment directed at a lone parent, show your kids that you are all one family.

��child. Keep in mind that you are laying the foundation now for years to come. There’s a basis for every decision a child will eventually make as they grow up. This basis is built by the way their parents raise them. There are clear connections between particular parenting philosophies and child development.

What to do if children are not properly supervised?

You can’t do much to influence the other parent’s thoughts and beliefs. They are raising your children differently than you do. And you have to accept that as a fact of life being a co-parent. Neither parent is correct nor incorrect. Parenting style is a matter of personal taste and perspective. You are aware there are folks in mid-Michigan who are very different. They can have parenting styles harmful to growing children. They have parenting practices that are even detrimental to child development.

The court cannot compel a parent to adopt a certain parenting style. Courts avoid discussions or arguments about parenting style. They are really more concerned about the quality spent on parenting time rather than on parenting style.

The issues that can bother you may just be isolated moments of lapses in parenting. It can be solved by simply talking to each other. Everybody is a little late once in a while. Deliberate and persistent violations of your parenting schedule can be dealt with by the courts. Your application to have the court’s order enforced can be submitted on your behalf by your attorney. The court can respond to your motion by:

[ 1 ]�� Demand parenting time to “make up” time

[ 2 ]�� Change the custody and parenting plan that is currently in place

[ 3 ]�� Punish the other parent of the child for contempt of court. This can result in jail time.

You have options if you feel that the manner your ex-spouse is raising your children puts them in danger. Report your concerns to the local police or Children’s Protective Services (CPS). That is if you believe your children are being harmed in any way. You’ll need to work on letting go of some of that parental control. The disagreement can be just about what constitutes a normal bedtime. Like, how much sweets a child should be allowed to consume in a day?��

We strongly advise against using the police or CPS for situations like those mentioned. Call the police or CPS only in cases of actual child abuse or neglect or evidence of criminal behavior.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel today for more advice on Family Law!

Goldman & Associates Law Firm is here to with information about Child Custody and Divorce in the State of Michigan.