Making a judgement about a child’s best interests requires considering all of the child’s needs and surroundings. The Divorce Act and the Children’s Law Reform Act provides a list of factors that a court must consider when deciding a child’s best interests. They include: the child’s age and stage of development the child’s need for stability the nature and strength of the child’s relationship with each spouse each of the child’s siblings and grandparents, and any other person who plays an important role in the child’s  life; each spouse’s willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other spouse the child’s history of care the child’s opinions and preferences The Divorce Act and the Children’s Law Reform Act state that in distributing parenting time, the court shall consider the “maximum contact principle”, that is, unless there are good reasons to reduce the time the parent and child should spend together, each parent should spend as much time with the child as possible, consistent with the “best interests of the child.”   In addition, in making parenting orders, the court will only consider the parent’s past conduct when making a parenting or contact order if the court is satisfied that the parent’s past conduct is relevant to his or her ability to act as a parent, or, if the conduct relates to violence or abuse against his or her spouse, that the conduct is relevant to a parent of the child that the court application is made about or a member, including another child of the parent’s  household.