Before We Co-Parent™
Before patterns set in, parents can rehearse the moments that most often go sideways: schedule changes, holidays, new partners, angry messages, and the temptation to send word through a child. This pathway is used voluntarily, as preparation for mediation, and as a supplement to parent education programs.
The first year sets the tone. These scenarios rehearse the earliest decisions of a new co-parenting relationship, while habits are still forming and small choices still carry the most weight.
Scenario 1 of 10
The Separation Talk
Two parents preparing to tell their children about the separation, deciding what to say, when to say it, and how to answer the questions kids actually ask.
Scenario 2 of 10
Parenting Plan Decisions
Drafting a first parenting schedule: weekdays, exchanges, holidays, and decision-making, while both parents are still learning to negotiate without a referee.
Scenario 3 of 10
Emotions in High Conflict
A sarcastic text about a pickup mix-up tempts one co-parent toward firing back or screenshotting, while the sender and a mutual friend each face their own decision about escalation.
Scenario 4 of 10
Financial Transparency
The first month of shared child expenses arrives with an unexplained charge, and both parents have to decide whether money talk will be an audit, an ambush, or a system.
Scenario 5 of 10
House Rules & Expectations
Two homes, two sets of rules about screens, bedtimes, and homework, and one eleven-year-old who has learned to quote whichever rulebook is convenient.
Scenario 6 of 10
Holidays & Special Days
The first holiday season after separation: both parents want Thanksgiving morning, both grandmothers have opinions, and a ten-year-old just wants to stop doing math about it.
Scenario 7 of 10
Communication Agreements
A schedule change travels through a nine-year-old instead of a text message, and both parents have to decide what their communication channel is actually for.
Scenario 8 of 10
Flexibility & Adaptability
A work trip forces a custody swap request, and both parents have to decide whether the schedule is a contract to enforce or a frame to bend, while their daughter's own plans hang in the balance.
Scenario 9 of 10
Putting It All Together
The night before a first mediation session: what to bring, what to ask for, and whether the opening move is a case against the other parent or a plan for the children.
Scenario 10 of 10
Our Co-Parenting Promise
Six months in, the emergencies have quieted, and two parents face the strangest decision yet: what to promise their children, out loud, together, about what they can always count on.
What this pathway is not
- Not a custody evaluation or a recommendation about parenting time
- Not therapy, counseling, or a diagnosis of any person
- Not appropriate for deciding questions of abuse, coercion, or safety
- Not evidence about how anyone actually behaved
Prefer to look first? Scenarios are also available without an account in demo mode, with nothing recorded.