Child custody battles are the most stressful experiences that parents have in a Florida divorce or paternity case. Often the parents involved are so concerned with success or failure that their judgement gets clouded. They sometimes take actions which they think will help their cause, but which actually have the opposite effect.

As you go through the process of arguing with the other parent over the children, there is sometimes a temptation to try to influence the children to take sides with you. This often takes the form of saying negative things about the other parent in the presence of the children. "I would love to buy that new television you want for your room, but your father is not giving us enough money to buy anything." "I am so sad because your mother ruined my life. She is interested in another man, you know." "If you spend more time at my house, you will not be subjected to all of those ridiculous restrictions that you have to live with at your Mom's"

Those are just some of the many examples of how people try to win over the children by talking the other parent down. This happens so often that the mental health community has given it a name, "Parental Alienation Syndrome". If you are the one engaging in this strategy to win a custody battle, you may just find yourself on the losing end of a child custody evaluation because you are not the parent who is most likely to "encourage a close and continuing parent-child relationship" when it come to the other parent.

Bottom Line: Be honest with your expert Tampa child custody attorney as to how you interact with your children and ask if you are in danger of being labeled a parental alienator...

(copyright Stann Givens 2009)