Why Peacekeeping and Peacemaking Are Not the Same in Co-Parenting

This week's Wednesday Q&A tackles a single question, but it's one that touches a lot of co-parenting dads. A member named Mike wrote in about a genuinely tricky situation. His ex-wife coaches their daughter's softball team and wants her fully involved, but Mike is also trying to build his own relationship with his daughter through something they both love, jiu jitsu. The two schedules keep colliding, and Mike is left wondering how much effort he should really be putting into supporting an activity that's eating into his own time with her.

Joe took the lead on this one, drawing from his own experience raising five kids across multiple co-parenting relationships. His core message was simple but hard to live out. Stop asking what's convenient for you and start asking what's genuinely best for your daughter, and never let your kids feel like they have to be the peacekeepers in a situation adults created. Larry tied it together with a reference to a past guest, Gary Chapman, and a lesser known book of his built specifically for blended families. If you're navigating co-parenting tension of your own, this conversation offers real, hard won perspective rather than easy answers.

Timeline Summary

1:01 Introducing today's single question format and Joe joining from a borrowed candy shop closet

3:21 Mike's question. Balancing his daughter's softball commitment, coached by his ex-wife, against their own jiu jitsu time together

4:24 Joe's own co-parenting background. Three prior marriages, five kids, and blended families from every angle

6:41 Larry announces a rare, small group preview of the Dad Edge Business Boardroom Brotherhood

8:38 Joe's first question back to Mike. What does his daughter actually want, not what either parent wants for her

11:38 Naming the trap of projecting our own wants and needs onto our kids instead of putting theirs first

13:52 Joe's underlying philosophy. Every co-parenting decision is a chance to build partnership and trust for the years ahead

14:16 Larry announces the first ever Dad Edge Day with the Arizona Cardinals, November 15th

16:39 Joe reflects on his own childhood as a blended family kid caught in the middle