DROPPING JEWELS: CO-PARENTING: IT AIN’T ABOUT Y’ALL NO MORE

Here it is plain. Co-parenting is not about you two no more. That chapter closed. The breakup ended the relationship. It did not end the responsibility you got to each other. That part don’t go anywhere just because the feelings did.

Now let me talk to you about the little one in the middle.

Every dig you throw. Every eye roll you catch them seeing. Every time you say “you just like your mama” or “you just like your daddy.” Your baby hears something else entirely. They hear “part of me is bad.” They keep score too, even when they too young to say it out loud.

That’s the weight of it. Your child is made from both of y’all. Talk down on the other parent and you talk down on half of them.

So here’s the jewel. You do not have to like your ex. You do have to work with them. Big difference. Nobody asked you to be best friends. Somebody did ask you to raise a whole human being together.

Put the ego to the side. Pick up the child. Please.

The numbers back it up:

• Kids in high-conflict co-parenting homes face higher rates of anxiety and depression, research from the American Psychological Association shows.
• Children do best when both parents stay involved and low on conflict, per the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• Studies find that ongoing parental conflict harms kids more than the divorce itself.

Do better for them. That’s the truth.

Check out Dropping Jewels with The Madd Hatta weekdays at 5:26 on Majic 102.1.