How to Cope When There’s No “Co” in Your Co-Parenting with Christina McGhee on Divorce & Beyond #254

America’s Favorite Parenting Expert is back on the show! Christina McGhee re-joins host Susan Guthrie on The Divorce & Beyond podcast. Together they discuss the top tips for managing a difficult co-parent! Parenting even under the best of circumstances is challenging. When you add into the mix a co-parent who is uncooperative or high conflict, it’s downright exhausting. So, what can you do?  Christina has some wonderful tips about how to maneuver a co-parenting situation where your co-parent is non-existent or uncooperative. Christina shares ways to work through the feelings of hopelessness and exhaustion. Plus, she talks about how to get to a place of being in control of yourself and your emotions so you can be an empowered, consistent, engaging, and confident parent to your children.  Christina McGhee is a speaker and divorce parenting expert who believes divorce doesn't have to equal devastation for families.  She is also the author of the highly acclaimed book, “Parenting Apart: How separated and divorced parents can raise happy and secure kids.” Some topics that Christina and Susan discuss: What Christina means when she says “When there’s no “Co” in Co-parenting…” Instead of staying focused on fixing the co-parent, lean into your co-parenting values and work on yourself Radical acceptance: Adjust your expectations and accept things the way they are…for now. “It may not get easier, but how you manage it makes a difference.”  Ask yourself: How is your response going to impact your children? Talk about the problem, not the person. “Making the other parent look small will never make you look big.” Don’t forget about the power of one!  Tune into this episode to hear tips and strategies that will keep your children at the center of your divorce and to learn how to cope with a difficult co-parent! About this week's special guest: Christina McGhee Christina McGhee is a speaker and divorce parenting expert who believes divorce doesn't have to equal devastation for families.   While splitting up is undeniably hard, with the right kind of information and support, she thinks parents can be children's absolute best resource as life changes.   As a coach with 20+ years of experience, Christina is dedicated to providing parents with the tools and practical support they need to get it right for their kids.  She is also the author of the highly acclaimed book, Parenting Apart: How separated and divorced parents can raise happy and secure kids.   As a child of divorce and as a bonus mom (aka step-mom), Christina gets plenty of opportunities to practice what she preaches.  Together she and her husband have four “adultish” children (2 bonus, 2 bio), an ever-growing community of rescue dogs/cats, and an obscene number of chickens. You can nd out more about her at divorceandchildren.com  Website: www.divorceandchildren.com  Co-Parenting Specialist (CoPS) Certification Training with Mosten Guthrie Academy:  https://mostenguthrie.com/co-parenting-specialist Parenting Apart: How Separated and Divorced Parents Can Raise Happy and Secure Kids: https://amzn.to/3PpdW3m Instagram: http://instagram.com/divorceandchildren Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/divorceandchildren Also mentioned in this episode:Rainbows For All Children If you want to see the video version of the podcast episodes they are available on The Divorce & Beyond YouTube Channel!  Make sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss a single episode! THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSOR: Divide & Thrive Divorce Planner Divorce is hard. Divide & Thrive makes planning for one EASY. The #1 regret I hear from people who've gone through a divorce is that they didn't PREPARE in advance. There is no do-over in divorce, so planning early in the process is a GAME CHANGER. Divide & Thrive's divorce planner takes the guesswork out of what to do. Their planner has helped THOUSANDS of people throughout the U.S. AND Canada save TIME and MONEY during divorce, and have PEACE OF MIND. Their PROGRAM guid