Co-Parent Dilemmas

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Diane and Rick answer listener Carlos’ question about the confusing paragraph in his parenting plan regarding the summer schedule. His co-parent is attempting to manipulate the schedule to get more time than the plan intends. The hosts discuss alter...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Listener Colleen wants to stop communicating with her co-parent so she can get emotional relief. Diane & Rick revisit the importance of following the structured email protocol and talk about the pitfalls of going silent or ignoring the impossibl...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Diane & Rick address Zachary’s question about how to get his co-parent to stop bringing her toxic boyfriend to the children’s activities. He worries the children will get in the middle of the conflict. They discuss the purpose of setting a bound...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Diane & Rick address listener Danny’s question about the top three issues facing high-conflict parents and how to resolve them. The hosts discuss the fact that the issues are not the problem, but what lies underneath them, such as the fears and...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Shawn asks a question about how to help her 19-year-old daughter repair her relationship with her father. Diane & Rick discuss the importance of acting parental no matter how old the child is. The discuss the daughter’s dilemma of not only compe...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Sometimes approaching your court case without an attorney can leave you vulnerable and without all the information you need to make good decisions. Diane & Rick explore a listener’s frustrations about her parenting plan language and how things m...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Diane & Rick answer listener Ryan’s question about which therapist he and his co-parent should choose for their daughter. The one nearest dad or mom? What really matters? Is it possible to have a “harmonious” discussion, as their parenting plan...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Diane & Rick discuss the mental health issues that are connected to someone with an extremely self-focused personality disorder, also known as a Narcissist. They differentiate the clinical information from what is promoted on social media and he...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Diane & Rick explore the phenomenon of children engaging in  “gaslighting” as a strategy to either survive their parents’ conflict or to manipulate a parent to get what they want. Is it a learned behavior from an alienating parent, or is it part...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Listener Heather shares a paragraph from her parenting plan entitled “Special Considerations”. Diane& Rick explore how you can go too far in trying to explain an abstract phrase and find yourself right back into the conflict that prompted the la...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Diane & Rick address listener Shary’s dilemma about parenting time with an infant. How much does the co-parent relationship determine the best schedule? The hosts break it down, as well as discuss the similarities between toddlers and teens when...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE In another episode in the parenting plan disaster series, Diane & Rick review Camile’s parenting plan language about 1st, 3rd, and 5th weekends. They discuss the problems with wording that seems fair in its attempt, but destined to create all ki...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Listener Michael shares his problematic parenting plan language about birthday parties with Diane & Rick. They discuss not only the problem with the wording, but what really matters to the child — the one being honored by the celebrations. The h...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Diane & Rick address a listener’s question about the meaning of dinner  in his parenting plan. They discuss how some co-parents go to great lengths to misinterpret parenting plan language to interfere with the other parent’s time with the childr...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Listener Colleen writes to get advice on how to manage her emotions and not answer her co-parent’s lying emails and texts. Diane & Rick discuss the importance of becoming desensitized to the other parent’s trigger attempts. As well as practice r...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Diane and Rick look at a conflict that on the surface might seem easy to resolve for the Non-Impossible parent. But upon further exploration, they unpack long-lasting consequences to giving in to a child’s request to stay away from school events and...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Diane & Rick address Trudy’s email that asks the question, “Is it too late for me?” They discuss strategies to help a 15-year-old stuck in the crossfire of his parents’ conflict - ABOUT HIM! They also tackle the tough dilemma of the effectivenes...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Listener Leah emails that her child is blaming her for his distress over the divorce because she “broke the vows” in her marriage to dad. Diane & Rick know this sentiment is not coming from the child. How do you counter that kind of attack from...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE A non-impossible Facebook group contributor posts about a co-parent who refuses to communicate. Diane & Rick explore the fine line between setting an appropriate communication boundary and ghosting your co-parent. Is it about the technique or th...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Listener Travis asks how to manage holidays with the children when his co-parent historically makes plans on his time. He’s tired of her sabotaging every holiday, but doesn’t want the kids to be stuck in the middle. Should he set a boundary with her...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Diane & Rick reach into the listener mailbag to reveal how listeners are benefitting from the show and how they continue to feel railroaded by the court system. They discuss how some disordered people get away with attaching themselves to good p...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Co-parenting with an impossible parent can be difficult enough, but what happens when grandparents get involved and make things worse? Listener Chrislyn asks Diane & Rick to weigh in about this on the show. They discuss the importance of boundar...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE As a follow up to Part One, Diane and Rick describe the family court hearing they recently attended and interview one of the parties.  They get a first-hand perspective about the personal devastation these types of cases cause, even when there is a...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE Diane & Rick report on a recent court hearing they attended, in which the judge admonished the parties to never come back to the court, if they knew what was best for the children. Diane questions what that really means. Is that possible? What i...

Have a quick question to be explored on the show? Send us a text message! Include your email address if you would like a personal response. Click HERE What if your co-parent informed you, after the fact, that your child was baptized — and according to your child, all of his/her extended family attended?! How do you respond when your child wants to know why you weren’t there? Diane & Rick discu...