Gary Direnfeld

Let's go make dinner.

You don't get your own knickers in a knot.

You don't start firing back at the other parent.

You carry on with life.

That is differentiated from some parents who, maybe because they have some narcissistic tendencies, how dare you separate from me, I'm the best thing since sliced bread, and they are actively out to undermine the child's relationship with the other parent, and they're using that child as a pawn to hurt.

Different scenario, more intense.

The strategy remains the same.

And that is don't engage.

The child comes back.

Here's something I've told many a parent.

Before you enter your house again with that child, before you let them back in, you're at the threshold of the door.

Look down towards your child and say, where are we?

And the child, yeah, you had a quizzical look on your face.

What the heck are you talking about, Darren Felt?

Yeah, where are we?

And the child's going to have that quizzical look.

And they're going to look up at the parent and kind of like, they'll say something wondering if it's the right answer.

They'll say, home?

And the parent will go, yeah, yeah, home.

How do we behave here, sweetie?