The Dispatch
No XLVIII · Co-Parenting · 7 min
Telling the kids, by age
How to tell children their parents are separating, calibrated to age. What works at 4 won't land at 14, and pretending otherwise hurts.
No XLVII · CO-PARENTING
50/50 or not, the honest conversation
Equal-time parenting sounds fair on paper. The honest version is messier, and the kids' age and your geography matter more than ideology.
25 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XLVI · CO-PARENTING
Father custody rights in Australia, in plain English
What Australian family law actually says about fathers and custody, with the 2024 reforms factored in. No mythology, no scare stories.
25 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XLV · CO-PARENTING
Child support, the formula explained
How Services Australia calculates child support: the eight steps, what each parent's income does to the number, and the result.
25 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XLIV · CO-PARENTING
Co-parenting apps actually worth using
The three apps separated parents pick, what each does well, and why the right answer depends on how much conflict you're managing.
26 Apr 2026 · 6 min
No XLIII · CO-PARENTING
The step-by-step guide for divorced dads
A 12-month playbook for the practical stuff: emotional, parental, financial, legal. In the order you'll actually need it.
26 Apr 2026 · 9 min
No XLII · CO-PARENTING
The handover routine that works
The handover is not a transaction. It is a transition, and your kid's nervous system reads it harder than you do.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XLI · CO-PARENTING
The school pickup truce
The school gate is not a battlefield. It is a public stage with a small audience of one. Behave accordingly.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XL · CO-PARENTING
Birthdays as a divorced dad
Two parties, one party, no party, the wrong party. The kid does not need a referendum. He needs a cake.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXIX · CO-PARENTING
Christmas and the rotation
The first Christmas is the worst. The third is better. Build the new ritual; bury the old one with respect.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXVIII · CO-PARENTING
Talking to your kid about her new partner
He tells you on the way home from soccer. Your face has about two seconds before it gives you away. Use them well.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXVII · CO-PARENTING
The second house fit-out
The second place doesn't need to match the first. It needs to feel real. Here's what to spend on, what to skip, and how long before the kids stop calling it "Dad's house" and start calling it home.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXVI · CO-PARENTING
When the kid says she wants to live with Mum
Almost every divorced dad hears this sentence, eventually. Most of the time it doesn't mean what your stomach thinks it means. Here's how to read it, how to respond, and how to know when it's a real signal.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXV · CO-PARENTING
Co-parenting with someone you can't stand
Some exes are difficult. Some are genuinely impossible. Co-parenting across that gap is a long game with no applause. Here's the operating model that actually holds up: business partner, written record, scripted phrases, no JADE.
28 Apr 2026 · 9 min
No XXXIV · CO-PARENTING
The rules each house keeps
Two houses, two rule sets. Not because anyone failed at alignment, but because that's how kids work. Where to insist on consistency, where to let it go, and what to say when the kid reports back.
28 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXIII · CO-PARENTING
Holidays overseas after divorce
Taking the kids overseas as a divorced dad: passports, the consent rules, what the form looks like, what to do if she won't sign, the Hague Convention reality, and how to plan a trip that actually happens.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXII · CO-PARENTING
Co-parenting a teenager after divorce
Toddlers travel light. Teenagers don't. They have friends, jobs, gym sessions, a social map drawn on top of a postcode. Co-parenting them across two houses means letting some of the rulebook go and holding a handful of things hard.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXI · CO-PARENTING
Co-parenting a toddler after divorce
The years you thought would be the easy ones, because the kids are small and pliant and don't yet have an opinion, are the structurally hardest years to co-parent. Attachment doesn't ask permission. It just gets built, or doesn't.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXX · CO-PARENTING
The new partner introduction
There's a six-month rule. There's a reason for the six-month rule. There's also the trap of waiting so long that you accidentally teach your kids she's a secret. Both ends of the dial cost you. Read your kid, not the calendar.
28 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXIX · CO-PARENTING
Co-parenting and special needs
Divorce is hard on every kid. It is harder, structurally and predictably, on a kid with autism, ADHD, a learning difference, or a chronic illness. The two-houses problem isn't a metaphor. It's a sensory, medical, and administrative load you didn't sign up for, and you signed up for it anyway.
28 Apr 2026 · 9 min