When you share custody of your child with a person from a different cultural background than you, it can create situations of very disparate parenting decisions. this does not necessarily mean that either you or your ex-spouse are making the wrong parenting decisions, however.
But when these decisions conflict with those that the other parent makes, it can wind up affecting the custody of the child(ren). That’s when you may need to loop in your family law attorney and readdress the matter with the California family law courts.
Below are some scenarios where you might experience dissension between the parents.
One parent comes from a Scandinavian country where children are integral to the family and celebrated. The other parent comes from an Asian lineage where the children are taught from a very young age to be deferential to their elders and learn how to be self-sufficient.
If the parents split up and each rears the kids according to their own cultural norms, the children could wind up being very confused over how they are supposed to act and react to the world at large. But because children are nothing if not resilient, with love and patience from both parents, the kids can learn to adapt to behave one way with their father and his family and another with their mother and her extended relatives.
Sometimes, however, the differences may be quite stark. One parent may not believe in educating their daughters beyond high school or letting them mix with children of the opposite gender in school or socially. Without the experiences of higher education or exposure to the opposite sex, the other parent may be concerned that their child is deprived of a good education or socially stunted or ostracized.
You may want to seek a custody modification from the court if these parenting gaps prove to problematic to work out on your own.
