As much as you’d hope for a smooth transition to co-parenting after your divorce is final. The reality is, many ex-spouses have difficulty raising their kids together after they’ve separated.

If you feel like it’s been one dispute after the next since your divorce, then you can try and put aside your differences for the sake of your children by making changes to your current approach. Keeping the best interests of your children in mind can begin with adjusting your co-parenting plan, your relationship with your ex and your attitude.

Use co-parenting apps

Creating more reliable communication methods can go a long way in co-parenting. Thankfully, there are plenty of mobile apps you can download to organize your children’s schedules, child-related expenses and other important documents.

Don’t let the app options overwhelm you, instead find patterns in your arguments and use a specific app to address the underlying problem. For example, if you seem to always be on your ex-spouse’s case about last-minute schedule changes, then you can use an app like Coparently to encourage a schedule change request process.

Try parallel parenting

Maybe you and your ex aren’t ready to fully ready for a co-parent agreement that requires a lot of communication or in-person exchanges. Until you feel up to that type of challenge or arrangement, you can use parallel parenting instead.

Through parallel parenting, ex-spouses develop a more business-like partnership when it comes to working with each other. This often means leaving little to no room for changes to the parenting plan and not being able to control the parenting style each spouse takes in their own homes.

Work on yourself

Perhaps you seem to be the one who starts every tiff with your ex. It’s hard to admit when things are your fault, but you should forgive yourself during this difficult time and seek informal or professional help if you think you need it. This can be as simple as reaching out to a fellow divorced friend or getting therapy.

Improving your approach to co-parenting can help you create the happy, healthy home you and your children deserve.