When children live in one primary residence, but visit a parent or former care giver on a regular basis, it can be hard for the child to feel ‘at home’ in the non-custodial residence. With all of the child’s friends, and familiar places and things gone, the non-custodial parents neighborhood may seem bleak and overwhelming to the child, causing him or her to stay indoors and not seek friendships in the non-custodial parent’s neighborhood.

Friends are very important to children, and they rely heavily on each other at different times during their childhood. If the child does not seek out friendships, and begin to build a life in the non-custodial parents home, than he or she will not feel as though they are home, but simply visiting.

It is important for the child to be able to feel ‘at home’ while they are with the non-custodial parent. Feeling like a visitor can cause emotional walls to go up, putting distance between the child and the non-custodial parent. The last thing that either child, nor non-custodial parent needs is more distance, so it is very important for the child or children to build a life that revolves around the non-custodial house, just as he or she has a life when at the custodial home.

A great way to make your child feel ‘at home,’ as well as to stay connected in your child’s life is to allow them to have a friend spend the night. Having a friend stay over re-enforces to the child that this is ‘home.’ Allowing a friend to come over also gives the non-custodial parent a chance to meet some of his or her child’s friends, watch what they like to do, and be involved in a part of the child’s life that the non-custodial parent tends to miss out on, due to not living with the children on a full time basis.

Having a friend with him or her, will also serve to give the child more confidence when it comes to exploring the neighborhood, meeting with, and playing with the children in the area. Many children become shy when they are faced with making new friends, or simply being the ‘new kid.’ By having a friend near by to lean on, the other kids in the neighborhood will look more like fun, than fearful.

While non-custodial parents may not like the idea of ‘sharing’ their limited amount of time with their children with someone else’s child, after taking the time to think about the memories that can be made, the opportunity to meet a strong influence in your child’s life, as well as making their child feel more ‘at home,’ can quickly sway even the most hesitant of minds.