A visitation case study where visitation with Grandparents was an issue.
Sally and Sheldon had completed all aspects of their visitation agreement when they suddenly became aware that Sheldon was uncomfortable with allowing visitation to Sally’s mother and father. Sheldon claimed that Sally’s mother and father were probably the biggest reason they were getting divorced in the first place. He felt that they were forever influencing the children against him. Sally claimed that her parents were merely supporting their daughter and that Sheldon probably “deserved” anything he got in the way of criticism. After some discussion Sally and Sheldon realized that the issue of visitation to Sally’s parents could result in a major impasse and create difficulty with the overall divorce agreement.
Following the ground rules that they had established, Sally and Sheldon called a “timeout” and put off any further negotiation on the issue until the following week. One week later, they were still both upset about the matter, but Sheldon had a chance to talk to his children. He mentioned to them that their mother would be taking them to their grandmother’s house the following weekend. Sheldon observed that the children were pleased and were looking forward to the visit. This made him realize that it would be unfair to the children to deprive them of visitation to their grandparents.
Sally and Sheldon agreed that Sally could take the children to visit their grandparents any time she had the children but Sheldon did request that the children not be left overnight in the sole care of their grandparents unless Sheldon had given his approval. Sally was able to agree to this and the couple were able to move on to the next issue.