Cooperative Coparenting

Summer vacation can be a wonderful reset for kids, but for co-parents, the shift from school routines to summer schedules can also bring added decisions, coordination, and stress.

This is why values matter just as much as logistics. A little alignment now can help your kids feel more grounded, supported, and free to enjoy the season ahead.

For more thoughtful prompts and practical tools, subscribe to the Cooperative Conversations newsletter. 👇

https://www.aurishasmolarski.com/resources/

Boundaries with your co-parent can feel impossible until you have a framework.

As a therapist (and someone who lived it), I know that it only takes ONE parent to shift the dynamic. That parent can be you. But sometimes we need a bit of guidance in learning the “how to’s.”

This is why I created the ABCD Guide to Healthy Boundaries so you can start learning how to set boundaries that can help you regain peace and confidence.

💪🏻 Grab your FREE GUIDE and start setting healthy boundaries today, https://mailchi.mp/aurishasmolarski/abcd-to-healthy-boundaries

💕 Lmk which step feels hardest for you right now? Comment below. ⬇️
A, B, C, or D? 💬

When children share their emotions, they are not always looking for our opinion, our correction, or our solution.

Often, they are looking to see whether we can stay connected to them while they are feeling overwhelmed.

- That does not mean we allow every behavior.
- It does not mean we abandon boundaries.
- And it does not mean we respond perfectly every time.

It means we remember that underneath the yelling, crying, shutting down, or pushing away, there is often a nervous system asking:

“Am I safe with you when I feel this much?”

Save this for the next time your child’s feelings feel bigger than both of you. 📌

Before Mother’s Day was a holiday, Ann Reeves Jarvis and Julia Ward Howe imagined a day when mothers would gather not to be honored — but to heal divided communities. That spirit reminds me of how mothers are still carrying a torch for healing, change, and speaking up for peace.

May we stay strong and connected in a world that threatens to disconnect us. 🫶

Happy Mother’s Day. 🌸

Love to you all. 💙

I’m honored to be joining TalkingParents for their Co-Parenting & Coffee webinar, “Setting Healthy Co-Parenting Boundaries,” where we’ll talk about communication, protecting children from conflict, and how boundaries can support more peaceful, child-centered co-parenting.

Boundaries create predictability. Predictability creates safety. Safety frees kids to just be kids.

Join me for this live interview and Q&A session on Thursday, May 14 at 7 a.m. PST / 10 a.m. EST.

Grab your spot today! https://talkingparents.com/setting-boundaries-webinar-registration

Co-parenting therapy is so much more than “don’t put your kids in the middle” or “don’t speak negatively about your co-parent.”

It’s about rebuilding trust in yourself so you can hold boundaries that truly protect your child.

Because co-parenting after separation can feel lonely, exhausting, and emotionally loaded — especially when every decision, text, or schedule change has the potential to spiral.

But your child’s wellbeing can still be the north star.

You don’t need forced friendship. You don’t need perfection. You need communication, boundaries, and enough steadiness to keep your child out of the middle.

If this felt familiar, you’re not alone in it. Which one of these resonated with you the most? Drop it in the comments 👇

Raising a secure kid in two homes is possible. It is not about having perfection or having an intact family system. Security is fostered through the relationships with their caregivers, and that can be fostered with you in your own home every day through the small acts of connection.

✅ Consistency - Can your kids rely on you to be available and to provide structures and routines that allow them to feel safe and protected.
✅ Emotional sensitivity - Can your kids feel that you get them, that you’re interested in who they are, and what they are experiencing and feeling?
✅ Repair - When you raise your voice or get irritated with your kid, do they hear you acknowledge it and repair it with them. Repair allows them to rekindle the bridge between disconnection and connection - the essence of building trust.

It’s what your child experiences every day that shapes their confidence, their resiliency, and their sense of self that they can bring with them into the world.

Save this for the days you need a reminder. 💙

Co-parenting is one of the most emotionally complex relationships you'll ever navigate, but you don't have to like your co-parent to build something functional with them. What your kids need is two parents who have figured out how to function — even imperfectly — within a structure that keeps them safe and loved.

That might mean agreeing on a communication platform that keeps conversations focused and documented. It might mean establishing clear schedules that reduce last-minute negotiation. Whatever boundaries you and your co-parent establish, they help you to be someone your kids can count on, week after week, even when the adult relationship is painful or unresolved or just plain exhausting.

Need help in learning how to set appropriate boundaries? Comment "Boundaries" and I'll send you the link to the free webinar I'll be hosting with Talking Parents on May 14th.