Co-Parent Dilemmas

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Listener Frannie emails Diane & Rick to ask why her co-parent doesn’t want to teach their children life lessons. The hosts discuss the importance of helping children become resilient and cautions co-parents about the messages kids learn when parents label the other parent’s attemp...

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Diane & Rick are taking a short break. To round out season four, they are featuring interviews where they were guests on other podcasts! This week they join Karen McMahon of the Journey Beyond Divorce podcast and discuss strategies to live peacefully despite having a high-conflict...

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 are taking a short break. To round out season four, they are featuring interviews where they were guests on other podcasts! This week they join Michelle Dempsey-Multack of the Moms Moving On podcast and discuss what it means to be a non-impossible co-parent and helpfu...

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 are taking a short break. To round out season four, they are featuring interviews where they were guests on other podcasts! This week they join Seth and Pete of How to Split a Toaster for an engaging conversation about the DRAGON method of approaching co-parent confli...

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 are taking a short break. To round out season four, they are featuring interviews where they were guests on other podcasts! This week, they share the interview they did with Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames of the A Little Bit Culty Podcast. Sarah and Nippy were feature...

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Listener Sherry emails about her concern that her co-parent is not paying attention to their infant’s medical needs. But when the girlfriend enters the picture, things blow up. Diane & Rick discuss the importance of not alienating support people from the mix, especially when it in...

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Diane & Rick explore how AI might assist co-parents in constructing productive co-parent communication. What they learn is that AI has not yet learned enough about toxic people to understand how certain types of communication may feed into their motivations, instead of managing th...

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Listener Veronique shares that she is paying for all her children’s activities, but they have no idea their other parent is shirking his responsibility. Is this protecting the kids or hurting them? Will they just take advantage of mom if they don’t know it’s hard for her to bear this ...

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Diane & Rick respond passionately to Danielle’s email about feeling the need to file a court case, knowing it will only embolden her co-parent to continue his campaign against her. They discuss the risks/benefits and the true dilemma she faces in making this very difficult decisio...

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Listener Robert wants to know what an acceptable amount of co-parent communication is when two co-parents are getting along well. His recent relationship  tanked when his girlfriend couldn’t abide his overly friendly interactions with his ex. Diane & Rick explore the need for boun...

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Diane & Rick explore the possibilities of transforming the parental alienator when he/she grows emotionally over time. They discuss the importance of BOTH parents recognizing the passage of time and respecting their child’s developmental growth. The parent who accuses the other of...

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Jake, a mental health professional, joins Diane & Rick on this episode to tell his story of dealing with narcissistic abuse and alienation from his mother growing up. They discuss how it felt to him as a teen, how he came to realize his mother’s disorder, and how he reconnected wi...

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In part one of a three-part series on parental alienation, the hosts take a complicated look at the phrase "parental alienation" and what the various forms are. They discuss the oversimplification of this issue in the family court system, and the desensitization professional...

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Diane & Rick discuss the fallacies of traditional “anger management”. They also talk about different types and reasons for anger, and how it is important to respect the nuances, especially when dealing with an impossible parent. They explore the responsibilities co-parents have to...

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Listener Maria asks what she can do to run interference with her kids when their step-mother seems bent on turning them against their mom. Even dad has apologized to mom for his wife’s behavior,  but he does little to make things better for the kids. Diane & Rick discuss what can ...

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Diane & Rick explore self care from the perspective of working on the root cause of co-parent stress, rather than treating the symptoms of the stress. They discuss it from the point of you of the divorce professional, as well as those in the  midst of a toxic co-parent relationshi...

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John asks the all-important question, “Should I fight?” Diane & Rick break down the risks and benefits of letting go vs. holding on to the conflict. They explore the complexity of balancing children’s needs with parental rights and conclude that so much depends on the type and tem...

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Diane & Rick take a week off to spend time with their families, so today’s episode is featuring a new podcast created by a Co-Parent Dilemmas listener! Jack, the host, speaks poignantly about what he’s learned as an alienated dad and how he maintains a strong bond with his childre...

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Has the co-parent world gone absolutely crazy? In some ways, yes! Diane & Rick discuss the disturbing patterns they often see in their work, and hear about from listeners, that signal the need for an evolutionary change in thinking for those who suffer their co-parent’s psychopath...