"My son is always hungry and dirty when I pick him up from his mother's house"
Co-parenting isn't always easy...
Splitting up from a partner is always difficult.
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No matter what happened or the reason for the break-up, it is going to hurt and probably hurt deep.
Now add a kid into the mix and things get even more complicated.
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Sometimes parents can't stand to be in the same room together, and shouldn't be allowed to be within reach of one another, but every now and then the parents split up amicably.
Co-parenting is a great way to make sure that a child has both of their parents' presence in their lives and generally the whole aim of this type of setup is equality.
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Equal time, equal responsibility, and, hopefully, some kind of balance.
But what happens when one parent stops co-operating and starts slacking?
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Mike* has an eight-year-old son who he has been co-parenting with his ex-partner. He has started experiencing some difficulties in this relationship and asked Stacey, J Sbu, and KZN for some advice on how he can handle this situation.
The two parents share all responsibilities, Mike pays the school fees and all school-related things, as well as child support.
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They take turns spending weekends with their son and Mike has noticed that whenever he picks up his son, his clothes are filthy, his shoes are falling apart. He then tries to clean them to the best of his abilities but most of the time he has to replace the clothing.
He addressed his ex about the issue but she ignores him or simply answers that "he's a kid and it's normal".
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He wants to avoid taking legal action but is all out of ideas as to how he can get his ex to co-operate.
What should Mike do?
(Name changed to protect the identity of the listener)
Stacey and J Sbu spoke to Karen Olivier, a family law specialist, to find out what Mike or any other parent experiencing the same struggles options are
This is what KZN had to say:
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