What happens when your ex keeps introducing new girlfriends to your children? This episode explores one of the most common and emotionally triggering co-parenting challenges: protecting your kids’ emotional safety when you can’t control your ex’s choices. Michelle Dempsey-Multack shares practical, child-centered strategies to help parents manage their own emotions, create stability at home, and provide the safe harbor children need to thrive. What You’ll Learn: Why you cannot control your ex’s decisions—but you can control your response How to process “ragey” feelings without placing that weight on your children The impact of a revolving door of partners on a child’s nervous system Simple scripts for responding when kids share their experiences with new partners The Safe Harbor Parenting™ framework for creating consistency, boundaries, and emotional resilience Episode Highlights: 00:42 – Why you can’t control your ex’s dating choices, and what to do instead 02:10 – Managing your own feelings without overwhelming your children 03:45 – How to ask open-ended questions that validate kids’ experiences 05:05 – Why overreaction teaches kids to hide their feelings 06:00 – Final reminder: your role as the safe harbor parent Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned Safe Harbor Parenting™ – a branded framework emphasizing emotional safety, consistency, boundaries, and resilience building Serenity Prayer Reframe – a mindset reminder for focusing energy only where you have influence Closing Insight: “Your job is not to control your ex. Your job is to be the safe harbor where your children can always return.” – Michelle Dempsey-Multack By modeling calm, consistent, child-centered co-parenting, you create the environment your kids won’t have to recover from, even if the other parent makes choices you cannot control. Learn from Michelle how to navigate divorce & co-parenting: https://bit.ly/MDMPodStore Get one-on-one coaching from Michelle: http://stan.store/themichelledempsey/p/book-a-11-zoom-with-me-wt46q75a Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMichelleDempsey Website - https://michelledempsey.com/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/michelle645 TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@themichelledempsey1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mldempsey/ LINK TO TRANSCRIPT: https://transcripts/moving-on-method-ep261-ex-bringing-new-girlfriends-around-kids Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices