This series is a personal outlet created to share real experiences, honest reflections, and supportive insights —from a father and divorce coach navigating family transitions.
At a difficult point in my life, I turned to writing to process everything I was going through — becoming a stepparent, having a child of my own, experiencing the end of a long-term relationship, and learning to co-parent with compassion across multiple homes. What began as a private journal slowly became something more.
The stories and thoughts shared here are not legal advice, nor are they a step-by-step guide. They are based on lived experience — the emotional toll of separation, the stigma single parents often face, and the day-to-day challenges of showing up for your children in the midst of uncertainty. They speak to the moments when you feel like you’ve failed, when guilt is overwhelming, and when you’re trying your best to cook, clean, parent, and keep going — often without being seen.
As a DCA® Certified ADR Divorce Coach, I share these reflections to offer support, perspective, and solidarity to other parents navigating similar roads. I hope that mothers, fathers, co-parents, and extended families might find insights here that lead to greater understanding and stronger co-parenting relationships. After all, the more supported and emotionally healthy we are as parents, the better equipped we are to raise resilient, thriving children.
This blog is about honesty, growth, and connection — and above all, reminding parents they’re not alone.
— Martin Kendall, DCA® Certified ADR Divorce Coach
Simple wins for Parents who want to garden with your children. If you’re new to gardening, I want to start by saying this: you do not need a greenhouse, a huge backyard, or a degree in horticulture to grow your own food. You don’t even need to be particularly “green-thumbed” (I’m certainly not). What you…
Continue reading ›The world is full of fad diets, conflicting advice, and ever-changing research. For most families, just figuring out what to cook, let alone how to make it healthy, affordable, and something everyone will actually eat can feel like a full-time job. For single parent families, it can feel like you’re expected to be chef, nutritionist,…
Continue reading ›“It’s not weak to speak.” There’s something we don’t talk about enough: the quiet suffering many parents carry behind the smiles, the school runs, the work meetings, the bedtime routines. This burden only intensifies when you’re a single parent. Depression is real. It doesn’t always look how we expect. Too often, it hides behind anger,…
Continue reading ›Co-parenting Neurodivergent children is challenging under the best of circumstances. One of the biggest gifts you can give your child is consistency. A predictable routine, clear expectations, and a sense of stability, even when they move between two households. As a step-parent to two neurodivergent boys, I’ve lived the reality of switching environments and seeing…
Continue reading ›When people think about the ideal co-parenting scenario, they often picture a team, two parents, working together, putting their kids first, and maintaining open, respectful communication. That’s the ideal, right? But sometimes, the reality looks nothing like that. Sometimes, communication breaks down. One parent stops responding. Tension bubbles under every exchange. Conversations become brief, cold,…
Continue reading ›If you’re a co-parent, chances are you’re carrying some guilt. Whether the split was recent or years ago, it has a way of lingering, showing up at school pickups, birthday parties, or those quiet moments when the house feels so still and empty. You might feel guilty for not making the relationship work. Guilty for…
Continue reading ›There was no custody hearing. No goodbye party. No paperwork to sign. Just a silence that settled in the house, and the ache of absence that most people didn’t see — or even know to ask about. When my relationship with my fiancée ended, it wasn’t just the partnership I lost. It was the family…
Continue reading ›Miscellaneous Musings: The Bits That Don’t Fit, but Matter Anyway Not everything in life comes with a neat label — and neither does every thought worth sharing. This space is for the in-between moments. The reflections that bubble up while doing the dishes. The random realizations during a late-night scroll. The small victories and quiet…
Continue reading ›There’s something deeply satisfying about rolling up your sleeves and fixing, building, or creating something with your own two hands. Whether it’s patching a wall, building a planter box, repurposing furniture, or figuring out how to hang a curtain rod just right, DIY projects offer more than just a finished product — they can bring…
Continue reading ›Real life. Real mess. Real love. Life in the home — especially in a blended, co-parenting, or single-parent household — is rarely picture-perfect. It’s real, it’s loud, it’s full, and sometimes it’s falling apart just a little bit. But in the middle of all that, there’s meaning. There’s the bittersweet rhythm of sharing time with…
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