Bird Nesting (or, co-parenting for the rich)

A recent trend in co-parenting is called bird nesting, where the children stay in the family home and the parents rotate in and out of the house depending on the day. The theory behind bird nesting is that it makes the transition easier on the children, and the parents are the ones who have to live in two separate homes. Some families bird nest until the children are grown up, while others choose to do this only temporarily to help with any transitional difficulties.

Although this seems like a nice, child-focused idea, it is actually very difficult to execute in reality. First, it requires an extreme amount of cooperation between the parents – and not many freshly-divorced couples could get along to that degree. The parents could potentially be stuck with two mortgages or rental payments each – which means that bird nesting is only available to the very affluent. Further, it can be difficult for the parent to get closure from the relationship or try to move forward while still technically sharing a home.

Co-parenting is great for children, but many think that this method is simply taking things too far.

– Marissa McGill