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 Judge Warren Davis, a Georgia County Superior Court judge, visits the show to discuss how he views narcissistic co-parents and the tactics he uses to sanction them when their controlling behavior is out of control. Diane & Rick share a listener’...

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 a listener’s question about co-parenting with someone she can’t stand. Is it possible to be a “good” co-parent when you have such negative feelings, or are the feelings simply part of the natural grief process? They also disc...

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 Gillia’s email about a complicated dilemma. Her ex-husband remarried a behavioral specialist, who now thinks she should take mom’s place with the special-needs daughter AND take dad’s place as mom’s co-parent! How do you dea...

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 William emails to ask what to do when his 12-year-old consistently complains about having to go to mom’s house. Diane & Rick speculate on the many possibilities for the resistance, including the mother’s recent remarriage. They help the listener...

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 Anna’s voicemail questions regarding what her young daughter reports dad is saying about mom. Anna has chosen to journal the comments, rather than address them with her co-parent. Is there value in journaling or documenting?...

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 tackle a difficult listener dilemma of a father refusing to engage with his two-year-old son. They discuss how to help a child when a parent is absent and what could be going on with a parent who is not interested in parenting. Cong...

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 Sean writes in with a concern that his co-parent may flee to another country with his children. Diane & Rick discuss the importance of focusing on the present and what Sean can control. They offer tips on how to reduce anxiety by having a plan B...

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 second voicemail from Lydia illuminates a common issue -- a child who acts one way at home, but quite differently on a phone call while at the other parent's home. What is really going on here? Diane and Rick discuss the phenomenon of the Cha...

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 Lydia from North Carolina calls in to ask what to do for her 10-year-old, who seems to be in distress about events happening at her other parent’s home. Diane & Rick unpack when it is appropriate to speak to the other parent about what a child 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 Diane & Rick address an email from listener, Anthony, who feels powerless to improve his co-parent relationship. They discuss the importance of taking care of his own emotions so he doesn’t use his child as a sounding board.  Diane questions why...

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 talk to expert and researcher Dr. Ben Garber about the necessity of family law professionals approaching family law litigation from a systems perspective, using a Sherlock Holmes method of elimination to understand the dynamics of e...

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 talks with Rick about her frustrations with how the court system often works against the high-conflict family in litigation. Too many cooks (professionals) in the kitchen (on the case) can prove to be a cure that is worse than the disease. Dia...

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 Tara emails a question about her co-parent, who she thinks spoils the children and is too permissive. What is the best parenting style in divorce? Will the kids reject  you if they don’t like your style? Diane & Rick discuss four parenting style...

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 Travis writes in and asks about the nuances of co-parenting an infant when he and the other parent were never married. Is co-parenting after divorce different than if you were never married? What does the research say about sharing time with very yo...

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 unpack the risks and benefits of using social media in long-distance parenting, as well as what details should be included in a long-distance parenting plan. RESOURCES discussed on this episode: https://cnfc.org/wp-content/uploads/F...

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 Tom emails a question  about how to respond when his co-parent goes silent on a time-sensitive decision and how to react to the children, who seem to be using the same passive-aggressive techniques with him. Diane & Rick discuss how to resolve t...

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 this episode, Diane & Rick answer a question from a parenting coordinator about how to define a medical expense and an extracurricular activity, especially as it pertains to financial reimbursement from one co-parent to the other. What might...

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 David asks if he should ask the court for more time with his kids because of alienating behaviors he suspects their mom is encouraging. Diane & Rick discuss the risks of making an already insecure parent more insecure by further court action 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 help a mom with a daughter who is angry at her because she had an affair on her dad. How much detail do kids need about their parents’ breakup? What value is the “truth” in these situations? Listen to a discussion about how children...

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 Emma from Atlanta thinks one of her co-parent’s decisions isn’t fair to their child, who is experiencing anxiety and nightmares. How much of it is connected to the dad’s decision, and what part does the co-parent conflict play? Diane & Rick unpa...

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 respond to an email from Janelle who struggles to please her co-parent without being walked on, and at the same time is afraid to set boundaries for fear her ex and the court will see her as a "bad" co-parent. They discuss...

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 This time of year presents unique challenges for co-parents that those who don't understand (like extended family members) struggle to grasp. Diane and Rick talk about how to manage the many issues and emotions co-parents face in planning a &qu...

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 Mark from Georgia emails that his co-parent refuses to allow him to have time with their two sons. Diane & Rick discuss practical solutions to help Mark work through this issue, but they also provide important emotional considerations for how to...

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 this episode, Diane talks candidly with Rick about the distinction between narcissitic personality disorder and narcissitic tendencies that we all may struggle with. They discuss how narcisstic abuse affects co-parents and their children and stra...

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  listener in Vancouver shares a concern about his 4-year-old being encouraged to call his step-father "Dad" and wants to know if he should correct this or talk to his co-parent about teaching their child that he only has one "Dad.&q...