You know you don’t have to always be fighting with your ex, right? It can get tiring and it sucks up precious time and energy you could be using for something else, like getting on with the rest of your life.
Take Madonna and Guy Ritchie for example. They have recently decided to hold peace talks after a nasty custody battle over their fifteen-year-old son Rocco. Their decision to take the high road gives us all hope that improving our relationships with our ex’s is possible.
Even after you’ve spent years in the mud.
The trouble started for Madonna when her son decided he no longer wanted to tag along on her Rebel Heart tour and then chose not to spend the holidays with her. He wanted to return to London where his dad lives and hired an attorney in order to fight for his right to a normal life.
It seems that Rocco was struggling with life with his mum, even when they weren’t on tour, resenting the way he is treated in New York by paparazzi and the public as opposed to life with his dad which is more laid back and “normal”.
Madonna and Ritchie also lawyered up and battled it out in court in both New York and the UK, with a judge recently ruling that Rocco be allowed to stay with his dad in London, despite Madonna offering to cancel the remainder of her concert dates in order to make her son happy.
She’s continued with her Rebel Heart tour, including recent dates in Australia, and has taken time out at each appearance to dedicate a song to her son and has posted several heartbreaking photos of him on social media.
Now comes the news that Madonna and Ritchie have cancelled an upcoming court appearance – in which Madonna was requesting a weekend a month with her son in New York – and opting to hold “peace talks” in order to sort it out themselves.
Top Comments
keeping the lines of communication open with your ex- when there are children involved is crucial - after we separated and later divorced emotions were pretty high and a lot of nasty things got said - by both of us - only during mediation did things calm down a bit - the best advice came from our mediator - keep our daughter's needs at the centre of our priorities - adopting that simple mantra has meant 5 years down the line we can now talk and plan our daughter's future without all the dramatics - and I've come to see just how important my daughter's happiness is down to how the 2 main adults in her life behave - it's not rocket science (though at times it seemed as if it was) - we are a 'family' of a sort and both my ex- and I will always have a relationship - someone wise once said, "the only thing you can do about something you can't change is change the way you think about it"
As the child of divorced parents who have always been respectful and had an amicable divorce, I cannot stress enough how much easier this made my life. Divorcing parents who cannot get along are putting themselves and their own hurt first. If you want to put your children first, then get along regardless imof how undeserving your former partner may be. Know that one day your children are going to ask you about, and hold you accountable for your behaviour.