Building a Business-Like Partnership

The most successful long-term co-parents treat their relationship like a business partnership. This mindset shift makes difficult interactions manageable.

What the business partner mindset means:

• Clear purpose: Your "business" exists for one reason—raising healthy, happy children
• Professional communication: You don't vent to business partners about personal frustrations
• Focus on outcomes: What's best for the "company" (your kids), not winning arguments
• Emotional separation: You can dislike someone personally and still work effectively with them
• Boundaries: Business partners don't need to know everything about each other's lives

Practical applications:

• Keep communications brief, factual, and child-focused
• Use email or co-parenting apps for documentation
• Don't rehash marital history in parenting discussions
• Make decisions based on data and children's needs, not emotion
• Treat your co-parent with the professionalism you'd show a colleague

This doesn't mean:

• Being cold or robotic with your children about their other parent
• Never cooperating on anything beyond the parenting plan
• Pretending you have no history together
• Being unable to have friendly interactions when appropriate

You don't have to like your business partner to work effectively together.