Author: TrinaTLP

By Trina Nudson, JD, LBSW – Child Advocate & Co-Parenting Coach

If you’ve followed this series so far, you know that alignment isn’t about grand gestures or one-time fixes. It’s about what happens in the small moments—the daily choices that either help co-parenting conflict stay out of your classroom or invite it in.

We’ve talked about seeing the patterns. We’ve talked about building systems. We’ve talked about making alignment tangible through policies, practices, and 30-60-90 day reflections.

But what happens when stress rises? When the systems you’ve worked so hard to build get tested?

Because here’s the truth: alignment isn’t a destination. It’s a practice. And the real test of that practice isn’t in calm moments—it’s in the moments when pressure builds.

Continue reading “Week 6 Sustaining Alignment: Keeping Systems Strong When Stress Rises”

By Trina Nudson, JD, LBSW – Child Advocate & Co-Parenting Coach

Over the past four weeks, we’ve named the migraine.
We’ve unpacked the patterns.
We’ve clarified that neutrality alone isn’t the goal—it’s the floor.

But insight only gets us so far.
What changes when we choose action?

1. Alignment Isn’t a Feeling—It’s a Practice
Alignment doesn’t mean everyone agrees.
It means the system knows what to do when they don’t.

When providers have clear messaging protocols, shared expectations for family participation, and consistent communication formats—children experience stability, even in the midst of adult conflict.

2. The Best Practices Are Built, Not Borrowed
Every program is different. Every family is different.
That’s why alignment isn’t a one-size-fits-all script.

It’s an ongoing commitment to clarity, consistency, and care.
And the best tools are the ones you co-create with your team.

Try starting here:

• A monthly 15-minute team check-in focused on co-parent dynamics

• A review of your intake forms to ensure both parents are engaged from the start

• A shared glossary of child-centered, listener-friendly language

3. We Don’t Just Hold Space—We Shape It
Whether you’re a child care provider, a coach, or a clinician—how you respond to conflict shapes the environment children grow in.

When you model curiosity over assumption, pause over reaction, clarity over perfection—you don’t just sidestep chaos.
You build safety.
And children feel it.

Because alignment isn’t abstract. It’s what they notice. What they feel.
And what they carry with them—long after they leave our care.

🗓️ Next Tuesday: Making It Stick—Sustaining Alignment Over Time
💬 Want help taking your program or practice from awareness to alignment? Reach out—we’d love to support you.

Tools That Help You Align Without Taking Sides

By Trina Nudson, JD, LBSW – Child Advocate & Co-Parenting Coach

If you’ve been following this series, you’ve likely started to see it.

Not just the surface-level stress—but the deeper patterns. The systems strain. The quiet ways co-parenting conflict reshapes your role, your team, and your classroom.

And by now, you know this much is true:
Neutrality was a starting place. But it was never the destination.

So what comes next?

This week, we’re talking tools—not scripts to memorize or buzzwords to post, but real practices that support alignment without inviting you into the storm.

Continue reading “Week 4 of the Where It Lands Series”

By Trina Nudson, JD, LBSW – Child Advocate & Co-Parenting Coach

In Week 1, we named what no one was talking about.
In Week 2, we outlined the patterns providers start to see once they notice the weight.

Now, it’s time to talk about the strategy that’s often suggested—but rarely works:

Neutrality.

Continue reading “Week 3 of the Where It Lands Series:Why Neutrality Isn’t Enough”

Week 2 of the “Where It Lands” series
By Trina Nudson, JD, LBSW – Child Advocate & Co-Parenting Coach

Once you start seeing how co-parenting dynamics shape your child care program,
you can’t unsee it.

And that’s not a bad thing.
It’s actually the start of something better.

Because awareness isn’t the problem.
It’s the missing piece.

Here are ten things providers often begin to notice once they realize that co-parent conflict isn’t rare or extreme—it’s daily, and it’s theirs to manage: Continue reading “10 Things Providers Start to Notice Once They See the Migraine”

Week 1 of a series on how co-parenting conflict quietly reshapes child care
By Trina Nudson, JD, LBSW – Child Advocate, Co-Parenting Coach, Founder of The Layne Project

A child has two homes.
Two backpacks.
Two people trying their best—just not always together.

At first, it doesn’t seem like a problem.
You learn to print two copies of the newsletter.
You send the same reminder twice.
You stay neutral.

Continue reading “Where It Lands: The Migraine You Didn’t Know You Had”

Some games have clear rules, a finish line, and a single winner. That’s the world of soccer, Monopoly, and spelling bees.

But co-parenting? That’s not a finite game. There’s no scoreboard. No final whistle. No single path to “winning.” Co-parenting is what Simon Sinek calls an infinite game—a relationship dynamic that unfolds over time, shaped by known and unknown players, evolving roles, and an ever-changing set of challenges and milestones.

And yet, so often, parents are handed tools for a finite game: custody schedules as battlefields, communication as performance, compromise as a loss.

BeH2O® emphasizes the goal isn’t to win against the other parent. It’s to keep playing—for the good of the child. That means leading with an infinite mindset.

So what does infinite-minded co-parenting look like? Continue reading “Week 12: The Infinite Game – When Purpose Becomes the Only Option”

When you step into co-parenting, you’re stepping into uncertainty.

No script. No guarantees.
Just decisions, relationships, risks—and the children counting on you to lead through it all.

Inspired by Annie Duke’s Thinking in Bets, this week in the Entrepreneurial Mindset for Co-Parenting Success series, we’re exploring what it means to lead in an unpredictable world—and how BeH2O™ trains co-parents to do just that.

Continue reading “Week 11 – Thinking in Bets: Leading in Uncertainty as a Co-Parent”

Co-Parenting Is Bigger Than Two People

Based on the work of Seth Godin 

Seth Godin’s Tribes reminds us that leadership isn’t about control—it’s about connection. It’s not about power—it’s about purpose.

And in co-parenting, that insight matters more than most people realize.

When a relationship ends, it’s easy for parents to become isolated. To divide up calendars, roles, homes—and unintentionally shrink the circle around their child. But children don’t just need parents. They need a tribe.

A tribe that shares values. A tribe that holds them steady. A tribe that gives them language, safety, and identity. Continue reading “Week 10: Tribes”

Co-Parenting Starts With You

In entrepreneurship, leadership isn’t about titles—it’s about ownership.
In co-parenting, it’s the same.

Michael Timms makes this clear in his book How Leaders Can Inspire Accountability: you cannot lead others well until you are willing to lead yourself first.

That single mindset shift can transform everything about how co-parents relate to each other—and how they show up for their children.

But here’s the hard part: accountability isn’t comfortable. It asks you to look in the mirror instead of out the window. To take action without needing an apology first. To lead, even when no one else is.

Continue reading “Week 9: How Leaders Can Inspire Accountability”