Aaron Dale has never known parenting without co-parenting. He became a parent aged 22 and was not with his son’s mother, so has always parented outside of a relationship. Dale says he “made a lot of mistakes because I was still figuring myself out” and that he didn’t have a blueprint. “I was raised by a single mum. My dad was very inconsistent,” he remembers.
But over the past two decades, through trial, error and therapy, he’s learnt how to be a supportive co-parent as well as a brilliant dad. He now co-parents his two sons, Omari, 19 and Tyler, 13, with their respective mothers, who he has a great relationship with.
Now Dale is a co-parenting advisor and author, helping others navigate the same situation and is about to launch a co-parenting support network for the two million single parents in the UK. His book, The co-parent: a toolkit for parenting together, apart is published on Thursday.
Here are the biggest parenting and co-parenting mistakes he’s learnt over the years.
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