How to Choose the Right Custody Schedule for Your Family
There is no single best custody schedule — only the one that fits your child's age, your geography, and how well you and your co-parent cooperate. This complete guide helps you choose.
#Co Parenting
64 articles tagged co parenting.
12 Parenting Plan Examples (With Sample Wording You Can Copy)
Seeing how a parenting plan is actually worded makes writing your own far easier. Here are 12 example clauses — schedule, holidays, communication, decisions, and more — to adapt.
What Does 50/50 Custody Actually Look Like? 8 Real Schedule Examples
50/50 custody means equal time, but it can be arranged in many different ways. Here are eight real schedules that all split time evenly — with calendars — so you can see what fits.
The Best Custody Schedules by Age: From Toddlers to Teens
The right custody schedule changes as your child grows. What works for a toddler can frustrate a teenager. Here's how to match the arrangement to your child's developmental stage.
The 4-3 and 3-4-4-3 Custody Schedules Explained
The 4-3 gives one parent a slight majority of time; the 3-4-4-3 alternates that edge to reach a true 50/50. Both offer a middle ground between short rotations and full weeks.
Every Other Weekend: How the Alternate-Weekend Contact Schedule Works
The traditional arrangement for many separated UK families: the children live mainly with one parent and spend alternate weekends with the other, often with a weekday evening. Here's how it really works.
The 2-2-5-5 Custody Schedule Explained (With Calendar)
The 2-2-5-5 gives each parent the same two weekdays every week plus alternating five-day weekend blocks — combining the predictability parents want with the balance children need.
Week-On, Week-Off Custody Schedule (Alternating Weeks): Pros, Cons & Examples
The simplest 50/50 schedule of all: one full week with each parent. It minimises handovers and works beautifully for older children — but the week-long gap isn't right for everyone.
The 5-2-2-5 Custody Schedule: A Complete Guide With Examples
The 5-2-2-5 schedule gives children predictable weekdays at each home and longer, calmer blocks than a 2-2-3 — making it a favourite for school-age kids in 50/50 arrangements.
The 2-2-3 Custody Schedule: How It Works (With Calendar Examples)
The 2-2-3 schedule is one of the most popular 50/50 arrangements for younger children because no child goes more than three days without seeing either parent. Here's exactly how it works.
The 24-Hour Rule and Other Co-Parenting Communication Boundaries That Work
Most co-parenting communication advice tells you what to say. The trickier question is when. The 24-hour rule and other timing boundaries solve the problem most messages were never going to solve in the moment.
Sample Parenting Plan Communication Clauses (With Wording You Can Use)
Most parenting plans skip the communication section or leave it vague. These eight clauses give you wording you can adapt directly.
Co-Parenting Communication Through Pregnancy and a New Baby
Few moments in co-parenting carry as much emotional weight as the arrival of a new baby. Here's how to communicate through it without it becoming a crisis.
How to Talk to Your Kids About Your Co-Parent's New Partner
Few moments in co-parenting are more emotionally loaded than the day your child mentions someone new at their other parent's house. Here's how to handle that conversation.
Co-Parenting Communication Mistakes That Hurt Your Child Arrangements Case
If your child arrangements are contested, every message you send becomes potential evidence. Here are the patterns judges and Cafcass advisers notice.
Long-Distance Co-Parenting: A Communication Guide for Parents Living Apart
Long-distance co-parenting can absolutely work. It takes a more intentional system than local co-parenting does — and the system is mostly about communication.
How to Respond to a Hostile Co-Parent Email Without Making It Worse
It lands at the worst possible moment. Here's a framework for responding without escalating — that also stands up if the matter ever ends up in front of a judge.
What to Do When Your Co-Parent Lies About You to Your Kids
Few things hurt more than discovering your child has been told something untrue about you. Here's how to handle it without escalating — and how to think about whether to escalate at all.
The Grey Rock Method for Co-Parenting With a Difficult Ex
If your co-parent thrives on conflict, drama, or your reaction, every interaction can feel like a trap. The grey rock method is built for exactly this dynamic.
Co-Parenting Communication Scripts: 27 Templates for Difficult Moments
When tension is high, the hardest part is often finding the words. These 27 scripts cover the moments separated parents most consistently struggle to handle in the moment.
Creating Consistency for Children Living Between Two Homes
Children carry their lives between homes. The right kind of consistency makes that feel coherent rather than fragmented — and most of it isn't what parents think.
Co-Parenting With a Narcissist: Communication Strategies That Actually Work
Standard co-parenting advice often fails when the other parent isn't capable of true cooperation. This guide focuses on what does.
Texting Your Co-Parent: Rules That Keep Communication Child-Focused
Text messaging is how most separated parents communicate day to day. It's also the channel where most communication goes wrong.
When Your Co-Parent Has a New Baby: Talking to Your Children and Each Other
A new half-sibling at the other house changes the family shape your children live inside. Handling the communication well now shapes how your children adapt.
Summer Co-Parenting: How to Plan Ahead and Avoid Holiday Conflict
Six weeks. Two households. Probably a holiday booking or two, some childcare gaps, and a few unspoken assumptions. Here's how to handle it well.
Co-Parenting Special Occasions: Birthdays, Graduations and School Events
Special occasions are some of the hardest moments to navigate in a separated family — and the most important to get right for your children.
What Is a Parenting Coordinator and Do You Need One?
If your post-separation life involves repeated disputes that drain energy and damage your children, a parenting coordinator may be the most cost-effective intervention available.
Children's Mental Health After Separation: What Co-Parents Need to Know
Separation, in itself, is not what damages children's mental health. Conflict between their parents is. The distinction matters enormously for what to focus on.
Co-Parenting Teenagers: Communication Strategies for the Teen Years
Teenagers push back, hold opinions, and notice every inconsistency between their parents. Co-parenting them well means a real change in approach.
Co-Parenting Handovers: How to Make Transitions Easier for Your Children
The handover is the most emotionally loaded moment of a child's co-parenting week. Getting it right makes a measurable difference to how children settle in each home.
Co-Parenting Plans for Toddlers: Schedules That Work for Young Children
A parenting plan for a toddler is fundamentally different from one for a school-age child. What works at six often fails at two.
How to Communicate Medical Information With Your Co-Parent
Medical communication is one of the most important — and most frequently contested — areas of co-parenting. Getting the system right early prevents most of the disputes.
Talking to Your New Partner About Co-Parenting: Setting Healthy Expectations
When you start a new relationship after separation, co-parenting acquires an audience. How you handle that triangle protects your children, your new relationship, and yourself.
Using Email Effectively With Your Co-Parent: Tips, Templates, and Traps to Avoid
Email is one of the most widely used communication tools between separated parents. It's also one of the most consistently misused. Here's how to use it well.
How to Write a Co-Parenting Communication Plan (And Why You Need One)
Most parenting plans focus on the schedule. The communication plan is the missing piece responsible for most ongoing post-separation conflict.
When Your Co-Parent Won't Communicate: What You Can Do
A co-parent who won't engage creates practical problems for your children — and a strategic problem for you. Here's a structured way to handle it.
How to Tell Your Children About the Separation: A Communication Guide for Parents
One of the most consequential conversations of your family's life. The version of the story you tell now will be the version your children carry.
Setting Boundaries With Your Co-Parent: What Works and What Backfires
Good co-parenting boundaries protect both parents' autonomy and reduce conflict. The wrong kind of boundary does the opposite.
How to Talk About Your Children's School Life When You're No Longer Together
School touches almost every part of a child's week. Getting the communication right between separated households makes the difference between a child who thrives at school and one who is quietly carrying something extra.
Co-Parenting Communication Apps: Which One Is Right for Your Family?
Co-parenting apps replace chaotic text threads with structured, documented communication. Here's how to pick the right one for your situation.
How to Communicate With Your Co-Parent Without It Turning Into a Fight
Calm co-parenting communication isn't a personality trait. It's a learnable set of habits. Here are the ones that consistently work.
Digital Tools That Make Co-Parenting Communication Easier
The right digital tools transform chaotic two-home logistics into something structured. Here's the stack that works.
Printable Co-Parenting Plans: How a Written Agreement Improves Communication
A well-structured written parenting plan is the framework everything else hangs on. Here's what it should cover and why.
Holiday Schedules After Separation: How to Split Christmas, Half-Terms and School Breaks
Holiday schedules are where most parenting agreements either work or fall apart. Here's how to build one that lasts.
How to Build a Parenting Agreement When You're Barely Talking
The strongest parenting agreements are often built by parents who can barely speak to each other. What matters is agreeing on what your children need — and there's a route through that doesn't require direct conversation.
When Your Child Needs an Independent Voice: Cafcass and the Family Court
In serious family court proceedings, a child can have their own independent voice. How that works in the UK and when it may apply.
Parental Alienation: How to Recognise It and What You Can Do
Parental alienation is one of the most painful experiences a separated parent can face. Left unaddressed, it can permanently damage the parent-child bond.
Parallel Parenting: A Strategy for High-Conflict Co-Parenting Situations
When traditional co-parenting isn't working, parallel parenting allows two parents to raise their children separately but successfully — without the constant communication that's making things worse.
Grandparents and Separated Families: Keeping the Relationships Healthy
Grandparents are continuity in a child's life — a stable presence that predates the separation. Supporting those relationships is one of the most child-focused things a separated parent can do.
When a Parent Wants to Move Away: Relocation and Child Arrangements
Relocation is one of the most legally and emotionally complex situations in separated family life. The communication around it matters as much as the legal route.
Best Co-Parenting Apps in 2026: Tools to Make Shared Parenting Easier
The right co-parenting app replaces chaotic text exchanges with structured, documented communication — and significantly reduces conflict over time.
Contact Arrangements in the UK: What Non-Resident Parents Need to Know
If your children primarily live with their other parent, your right to spend time with them is protected. Here's how contact arrangements work in the UK.
How to Vary a Child Arrangements Order or Parenting Plan in the UK
The arrangement that worked when your child was five may not serve them at twelve. Here's how to vary it well.
How to Talk to Your Kids About Divorce Without Causing Harm
How you frame this conversation shapes your children's emotional resilience for years. Getting it right takes preparation, not improvisation.
Talking About Money With Your Co-Parent: Child Maintenance Without Conflict
Money disputes are one of the most reliable ways to poison a co-parenting relationship. Here's how to handle the financial side without it damaging the parenting side.
How to Build a Parenting Schedule That Actually Works for Your Family
Splitting time fairly while keeping disruption to a minimum is genuinely difficult. The right schedule depends on age, work, geography, and the kind of relationship you have.
Creating a Healthy Routine for Children After Separation
Routine is the antidote to uncertainty. Children settle when daily life is predictable, even when the wider family structure has changed.
How to Create a Parenting Plan That Actually Works: A Step-by-Step Guide
Done well, a parenting plan provides stability for your children, clarity for both parents, and a framework that family courts can enforce. Here's how to write one.
Blended Families: Making a Step-Parenting Relationship Work
Blended families are one of the most common family structures in the UK and one of the most challenging to navigate well.
Co-Parenting With a Difficult Ex: A Practical Guide for UK Parents
If your ex uses your children as leverage, ignores agreements, or constantly undermines you, you're not alone. Here are strategies that work in practice.
Co-Parenting Across Borders: Communication Strategies for International Families
Time zones, distance, and international travel add real complexity. But the fundamentals stay the same: clear agreements, structured communication, both parents committed.
Five Communication Strategies That Make Co-Parenting Easier
Five strategies family mediators and co-parenting coaches use to help parents communicate well, even when the underlying tension is high.
A Practical Guide to Co-Parenting After Separation in the UK
A complete UK guide for separated families navigating the practical and emotional work of raising children across two households.
Parenting Agreements for Modern UK Families: Adapting to How Families Really Work
Modern families come in many shapes — blended, same-sex, multi-generational, international, work-from-home. Here's how to write a parenting agreement that fits yours.