20 inspiring co-parenting quotes to remember in the hard times

Kait Hanson
Layland Masuda

Co-parenting can be challenging, especially when a separation or divorce is involved, but there are plenty of co-parenting quotes to help in the hard times.

Whether you feel like a bad parent or you're in the throes of navigating a messy situation, it's important to remember your kids' feelings.

Kids often remember what they see their parents do, not what they say, so modeling understanding with your co-parent is important.

But co-parenting isn't always that easy. Thankfully, many parents have navigated this path before and understand the unique situations brought about when separated parents need to work together.

If you're looking to find meaning in your parenthood journey — or just a bit of hope during a dark time — co-parenting quotes can be helpful.

20 Inspiring Co-Parenting Quotes

Find your center during conflict with these 20 inspiring co-parenting quotes from thought leaders and celebrities:

  • “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” — Maya Angelou

  • “The greatest thing a father can do for his children is to respect the woman that gave birth to his children. It is because of her that you have the greatest treasures in your life. You may have moved on, but your children have not. If you can’t be her soulmate, then at least be thoughtful. Whom your children love should always be someone that you acknowledge with kindness. Your children notice everything and will follow your example.” — Shannon L. Alder

  • "If you hold onto hurt and anger with a narcissist, the children will have no normal parent. The narcissistic parent will use them as puppets, lovebomb and abandon them. You are their only hope." — Tracy Malone

  • “We begin to understand that to co-parent is to one day look up and notice that you are on a roller coaster with another human being. You are in the same car, strapped down side by side and you can never, ever get off. There will never be another moment in your lives when your hearts don’t rise and fall together, when your stomach doesn’t churn in tandem, when you stop seeing huge hills emerge in the distance and simultaneously grab the sides of the car and hold on tight. No one, except for the one strapped down beside you, will ever understand the particular thrills and terrors of your ride.” — Glennon Doyle

  • “Make a positive difference in your children’s lives. Act and speak about your co-parent with respect and integrity.” — Allison Pescosolido

  • “We do bedtime every day. We felt like as much togetherness as possible would be ideal, and fortunately we really love each other and are best friends, and so that works. It’s not that it’s not complicated, because it is.” — Sienna Miller

  • "We decided as a family it was the right decision for Flynn, so Orlando and I both relocated and we live five minutes from each other … Everything revolves around my son and his welfare.” — Miranda Kerr

  • “At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of the parents.” — Jane D. Hull

  • “Children learn more from what you are than what you teach.” — W.E.B. DuBois

  • “In the process of surviving in an environment that is void of trust, children also learn to deny themselves and their wounds in order to protect the image and needs of the big people in the environment.” ― Iyanla Vanzant

  • “To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today.”― Barbara Johnson

  • “It’s not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It’s our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless.” ― L.R. Knost

  • “All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair.”― Mitch Albom

  • “To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” ― Oscar Wilde

  • “Your children need your presence more than your presents.” ― Jesse Jackson

  • "At the end of the day, we’ve got a great kid who’s got two parents who love him very much. And we’re finding a way to navigate this while still remaining friends and still being kind to one another.” ― Chris Pratt

  • “We both realize that we’re parents and we’re in it for our kid, and that’s made it really easy.” — Pete Wentz

  • “I’m very fortunate because we’re committed to co-parenting our children together.” — Elle Macpherson

  • "It’s a blended family and it’s very hard to keep things together, but we’re happy and we live in love.” — Kimora Lee Simmons

  • “Divorce isn’t such a tragedy. A tragedy’s staying in an unhappy marriage, teaching your children the wrong things about love. Nobody ever died of divorce.”― Jennifer Weiner

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This article was originally published on TODAY.com

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