"Children need individually tailored solutions," ombudsman Reidar Hjermann told newspaper Aftenposten on Wednesday. He thinks that splitting their time between their parents' new homes should only be an alternative, not the rule.
When parents split up, Hjermann acknowledges that they have to split up everything from their shared home to the cars, TV and stereo. Their children, however, shouldn't be part of the math.
"You can't just share children in accordance with what's right for the parents," he said. Spending one week living with their mother and one week with their father is too stressful for many, he claims.
Hjermann told Aftenposten that he's had to deal with some parents who even want their children to attend two different schools, in order to live part-time with the mother and part-time with the father. He advises strongly against that. He concedes that some children manage to move back and forth between their parents, but he thinks that only works well when the parents live close to one another and cooperate well.
Hjermann's recommendation against commuting children "disappoints" top Labour Party politician Karita Bekkemellem, who until recently was the government minister in charge of family issues.
"It's most unfortunate that in 2008, the children's ombudsman doesn't equate the positions of mother and father," she told Aftenposten. She claims that too many fathers feel short-changed, when their wives are all too often granted custody of the children.
Without shared living arrangements, "only one of the parents gets to have close contact with the children in everyday life," Bekkemellem said. "All our experience shows that it will continue to be the fathers who are discriminated against."
