06/03/2026
Being child-first does not mean your child becomes the decision-maker.
There's an important difference. A healthy balance looks like: taking their feelings seriously, setting the structure, keeping adult decisions with adults, and explaining the plan in terms they can actually hold.
When kids are asked to carry adult choices — who to live with, what's fair, what happened — it costs them.
Kids feel safest when someone else is holding the frame.
The Co-Parenting Communication Checklist has language for keeping that line clear. (Link in the first comment. Playlist link in the first comment.)