If possible, copy any items that are made by the child, concern the child or are a significant part of the child's life. A regular file should be maintained by the custodial parent with a listing of items that have been sent to the non-custodial in the event a dispute arises in the matter. Several web sites offer log books and tracking books just for this type of stuff. One such company was sent to me by one of our readers. E-mail cthom@thevision.net to obtain more information on the type of books that are available.
Send everything. Sometimes our kids get into trouble and we get to sign wonderful notes from the children's teacher. Copy those too. It is natural to not want to disclose those items because we don't want our ex-significant other to think that we have somehow failed in the raising of our child. However, "shared parental" means "shared" good and bad.
Don't forgot to call the non-custodial parent for school conferences., Make sure that if a school conference is set-up that you call the other parent and inform them of the date and time. Don't worry about if you know that they will not attend, call them anyway. Part of being a good custodial parent is to document everything, notify and copy everything. It may not seem like much bit it is very important.
Split the artwork, projects. School children and even younger produce a ton of art work and projects. Copy some of the good ones and even split the work sending originals to the non-custodial parent. For older children, a great term paper or algebra assignment is a good bet to show your child's progress.
Copy homework demands or agendas. Many schools offer agendas or weekly assignment tracking. Copy the week's assignments from that and send that to the other parent.
Just remember that you can never send to much and that every little bit can offer insight to the non-custodial parent as to you child's activities. I had a non-custodial parent that complained once about the lack of documentation that the custodial parent sent. Don't be put in that position. The non-custodial parent can ask the court to award an order of contempt for failure to show the other parent significant details regarding the child.
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