One of the most difficult aspects of divorce is managing any children involved. It is highly likely that after a divorce you will be in a co-parenting situation with your ex-spouse. For multiple reasons, this can be very challenging.
Even the act of moving children between houses can be a major headache. To combat this, some families have adopted a “nesting” living situation. Nesting is when the family unit maintains a single family home after divorce that the children live in full-time and the adults swap in and out, according to Psychology Today.
Why would we want to maintain a family home?
In many cases, families adopt a temporary nesting situation without naming it as such. This is common at the beginning of a divorce when the parents may not wish to live under the same roof but they also do not have alternative living situations yet. Nesting is a great way for the parents to have the separation they need without needlessly disturbing the children.
In long-term situations, some families decide to maintain a family home because they live in otherwise-expensive areas. In some situations, families may decide that keeping children in a particular school district or neighborhood is worth experimenting with nesting as an arrangement.
But where do the parents live?
In temporary situations, it is common for the off-duty parent to stay with other family or friends. In longer-term nesting arrangements, it is not uncommon for the parents to maintain a separate dwelling for the off-duty parents to live in.
In most cases, nesting is semi-temporary. But depending on your family’s needs, it is not unheard of for nesting situations to last for years.
