When you leave your child with a third party instead of your ex-spouse, you and your ex-spouse need to have plans on how to react if an emergency takes place. There are many times when parents leave their children with day cares or babysitters. Those individuals are usually given information on who to call to pick up the child, but you may not have thought about what to do if you or the other person listed isn’t available.
In some cases, facilities and individuals are limited in who they can contact. While it’s typical in a typical family for both mom and dad to receive calls when a child is hurt, a day care may have only one parent’s phone number or be told only to contact one of the two parents on that day due to custody arrangements.
What should you do for your child to prevent miscommunication in an emergency?
One of the best things to do is to sit down with your ex-spouse to talk about emergencies. While you may not want them picking up your child from day care on a day when they don’t have custody, it’s a completely different situation when your child is hurt. Anyone who you leave your child with should be aware of both parents’ emergency contact information except for in cases where alerting one of the parents could be harmful to the child.
A good emergency plan is a must when you build your parenting plan. Plan ahead, so that your child can be cared for in emergency situations with no miscommunications.