When you get to court and hash out a child custody plan with your ex, your natural instinct may be to inflate your own availability.

For example, you may desperately want to prove to yourself and others that you don’t need anyone else. You’ll say that you can always take the child to school and after-school activities, that you can spend every weekend with him or her, and that you’ll do everything in your power to be a great parent.

Your intentions are good. You want to put your child first. However, this can give you a custody plan that doesn’t realistically address your situation.

Can you actually spend every weekend with your child if you have to travel for work? Can you really take him or her to every after-school activity, even if you don’t get out of work until five in the afternoon?

There’s no shame in admitting that you can’t do it all on your own. You don’t have to take on too much to impress the child, upstage your spouse or prove anything to anyone.

It’s far better to address things realistically and consider what you can and cannot do. This way, you’re actually putting the child’s best interests — and not your own — first. You’re giving the child a schedule that will work, giving him or her the most comfortable and successful life possible — even if that means working with your ex to do it.

Throughout the entire process, be sure you always consider your child’s best interests and your own legal rights.

Source: HuffPost, “Back to School: 3 Ways To Tell If Your Child Custody Agreement Is The Right Fit,” Bari Zell Weinberger, accessed Aug. 15, 2017