Someone once referred to our friendly co-parenting relationship (which includes our new partners, Sherry and JB) as a “twisted lifestyle”. Such ignorance makes us want to get t-shirts that say, “We’re not swingers. We just really love our kids!”
For this Sunday’s debut of Co-Parenting Matters, our live talk show, we’ll be discussing myths about co-parenting and how to address them, and we are inviting you, Dear Readers, to have your say!
Do your friends and family misunderstand your co-parenting relationship? Or maybe it’s your ex that’s got things…twisted? What myths about co-parenting bug you??
Let us know by joining us for a lively discussion this Sunday on BlogTalk Radio! Or, leave a comment here that we can read on the air (anonymously, of course!). We want to hear from YOU!
…I’m utterly confused as to how someone gets from “co-parenting” to “swinging.” I keep trying to figure out the mental gymnastics necessary to make that leap and I just can’t.
I mean, there are similarities in the language of co-parenting as I see it on this site and, say, polyamory (in terms of multiple adults being involved, communicating clearly your expectations and boundaries around relationships, conflict resolution skills and emotional intelligence, etc.). It could be theoretically argued that co-parenting is a form of platonic polyamory, if you’re of the camp that believes that platonic relationships belong under the umbrella of polyamory, and if you wanted to do a lot of figurative stretching. And there’s at least as much a stigma on polyamory as there is on swingers, but the two are not the same, and to go even further and assume that co-parenting is swinging is just … wha-what?
It makes me wonder if people even really know what swinging is, or if it’s just become one of those terms that people use to refer to some behaviours they don’t like/understand.
It makes me wonder if people even really know what swinging is, or if it’s just become one of those terms that people use to refer to some behaviours they don’t like/understand.
I think you hit the nail on the head. And in the case of the person who made the comment, definitely not liking and not understanding our co-parenting arrangement was the issue.
I was talking to Talibah Mbonisi (of WeParent.com) today, and she observed that very often people who make disparaging remarks or hold myths about co-parenting are sometimes those who feel threatened by someone else’s co-parenting relationship. So the myths reveal not only their ignorance, but their fears and insecurities as well.
she observed that very often people who make disparaging remarks or hold myths about co-parenting are sometimes those who feel threatened by someone else’s co-parenting relationship. So the myths reveal not only their ignorance, but their fears and insecurities as well.
I think you could substitute any alternative lifestyle arrangement for co-parenting there, and you’d still be correct. Although I gotta admit, co-parenting doesn’t seem to me to fall under the “alternative lifestyle arrangement” umbrella! People feel threatened by the strangest things…