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If you're navigating divorce, separation, high-conflict co-parenting, or difficult communication with an ex, this conversation is one you need to hear.
What happens when a simple text from your co-parent can instantly send your nervous system into overdrive? What happens when the conflict between adults starts affecting the emotional safety of your teenager or child—even when you think you're hiding it?
In this episode of Parenting Teens Advice Redefined, Cheryl Pankhurst sits down with Sol Kennedy, founder of Best Interest, an AI-powered communication app designed to help co-parents pause before reacting, reduce conflict, and keep communication focused on their children.
Sol shares the personal experience that led him to create Best Interest after realizing how much co-parenting communication was affecting his own sleep, stress, and ability to be fully present with his children.
But this conversation goes far beyond an app.
In this episode, we talk about:- Why a single text from your ex can trigger an immediate physical stress response
- Why high-conflict co-parenting can keep parents stuck in the same patterns they experienced during their marriage
- The danger of using AI as a “yes man” when you're emotionally triggered
- Why effective co-parenting sometimes requires someone—or something—to push back on you
- How to establish communication boundaries with a difficult co-parent
- How filtering unnecessary or toxic communication can help parents regain a sense of control
- Why children can sense parental tension even when adults believe they're successfully hiding it
- The invisible emotional scripts children absorb from tone, facial expressions, body language, sighs, and conflict
- Why telling a child “I'm fine” when they can clearly sense something is wrong can undermine their trust in their own perception
- How parents can model emotional regulation instead of demanding that children “calm down”
- Why taking a break during conflict is not avoidance—it can be regulation
- The impact of criticizing your child's other parent in front of them
- Why children can feel caught in a loyalty bind when one parent speaks negatively about the other
- A simple strategy to use before responding to a triggering co-parenting text
- Why the text messages you send today could potentially appear in family court years later
- How changing your own response can begin changing the entire co-parenting dynamic
- Why your ex may actually become your biggest teacher for the parts of yourself that still need healing
- How parents can begin repairing the impact of conflict—even if they wish they had handled things differently in the past
Take a break.
When you receive a message from your co-parent, read it and put the phone down.
Walk around. Take a breath. Go outside. Do whatever helps you create space between the trigger and your response.
The goal isn't to ignore important information. It's to give yourself enough time to respond from your thinking brain rather than from the emotional reaction that can take over when you're triggered.
And perhaps the bigger question is:
Who do you want to show up as for your kids?
You can't control what your ex sends you.
You can control what you send back.
A Powerful Reminder for ParentsIf you've already exposed your kids to conflict, don't decide that you've ruined everything.
Awareness is the beginning of change.
Sol reminds parents that divorce and separation can involve enormous stress—court, finances, housing, changing jobs, changing homes, and trying to create stability while everything feels unstable. Parents aren't necessarily going to handle every moment perfectly.
The question isn't whether you've made mistakes.
The question is:
What are you willing to do differently now?
Sol Kennedy is the founder of Best Interest, an AI-powered communication tool created specifically around the dynamics of co-parenting. Best Interest is designed to help parents communicate more effectively, establish boundaries, filter unnecessary conflict, and keep the focus on the children.
Sol created Best Interest after experiencing firsthand how high-conflict co-parenting communication affected his own stress and relationship with his children.
Best Interest is available through its website and mobile app, with a free version and additional paid features.
Sol is the founder of BestInterest, an AI-powered communication app being called "life saving" by parents in tough family situations. BestInterest was recently nominated for a Webby Award — for its work helping families filter out toxic messages and keep the focus on their kids. Sol built BestInterest after seeing firsthand how everyday parenting communication can either become a battleground or a bridge, and is on a mission to help parents pause before reacting, protect kids from adult conflict, and rebuild trust one message at a time.
https://bestinterest.app or on Instagram: instagram.com/bestinterest.app Facebook: facebook.com/bestinterestapp YouTube: youtube.com/@BestInterestApp
Cheryl Pankhurst is an Educational Strategist, Family Advocate, speaker, published author, and the host of Parenting Teens Advice Redefined for Today's Complex World.
With more than 25 years of experience supporting adolescents, families, and schools, Cheryl helps parents navigate everything from neurodivergent diagnoses and assessments to IEPs, school advocacy, transitions, and beyond.
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