Co-parenting can be a tricky field to navigate, but when it’s done right, it’s looked at as one of life’s most beautiful moments. And one family from Ontario went viral after a photo proved just how special co-parenting can really be.
On October 3, mom Madison Holley shared a picture she took just moments after she was released from the hospital with Love What Matters. She told the popular Facebook page that the “photo was taken 24 hours after I gave birth to my second baby boy, Waylon.”
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The picture features her first son, 3-year-old Cade, her ex, Tyler Mcilveen, and her now-fiancé, Cody Pietz. She wrote that “the guy on the left is my ex, the 3-year-old holding his hand is my first child, Cade, we had together. The guy on the right holding my sons’ right hand is my fiancé, and the newborn baby boy is our child.”
In an interview with Good Morning America, Holley said she and Mcilveen broke up a little after their son turned two. She explained that her ex has “always been a really good father, but I think emotionally we were in different places.”
To those who have never co-parented, or to those who are struggling to co-parent, Holley’s picture may seem unusual. But as the mom admitted, getting along with her ex is exactly what her son deserves.
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As Holley explained to Love What Matters, “just because a relationship doesn’t work out between two people DOES NOT mean the relationship with the child shouldn’t.”
Holley continued to say that just because she and her ex decided to longer continue their romantic relationship, she “would never take away” her son’s relationship with his father. “Every child needs a mother and father figure,” and with her new fiancé in the picture now, that just means her boys get some extra love.
The now mom-of-two told Good Morning America that she snapped the photo because it made her happy. She said:
“It made me really happy. It’s two people that I guess mean a lot to me. Both of them are the fathers to our children. The fact that they can get along and all four of us could sit in the hospital while I have another child with someone else was just really amazing.”
And while she’s proud of how she and Mcilveen handled their separation and their new platonic relationship, she admits it wasn’t easy at first, but they worked hard at getting to where they are today.
In fact, Holley told Good Morning America that it was Mcilveen’s current girlfriend who was instrumental in helping them get to where they are now. Holley even calls Karin “a really good friend” and Karin calls Holley a “strong woman.”
As for co-parenting advice we can all use, Holley told Love What Matters, “Be civil and co-parent. If you made the child together it’s both your job to raise the child.” Holley also credits open and honest communication for keeping their unique relationship successful.
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