Within Divii, you'll be asked how you want to communicate. It's a good idea to create an understanding about the method that you're going to use to communicate with the other parent so that you have a shared expectation and minimize conflict.

If you have a simple way to keep each other informed and make decisions, it means that you're not having to deal with these things at pickup or drop off or anytime you see each other. If you arrive at the soccer game and you've already had these discussions online, you can just keep it light and friendly in front of your child.

When we think about how to keep each other informed, you can do it in a number of ways. When you look at a listing of significant matters that you'll need to inform each other about, you'll see that most of them are calendar items like appointments, events, key dates, registration dates, schedules, invitations, activities, and changes to the schedule because of your work schedule or something going on with the child's schedule.

You can minimize a lot of back and forth by having a shared calendar. The rest of the items can be communicated typically through a text message or email, but you should know about co-parenting apps if you don't already.

There are many co-parenting apps on the market, and they all do similar things. They all have a calendar built in where the parenting schedule is colour-coded on the calendar, and the activities and events are layered over top of the parenting schedule. It gives you a quick visual of the parenting schedule and other important things that are happening in the week.

The apps also include a messaging tool which will often be like a hybrid of text message and email where you can have multiple threads broken up by subject – kind of like an email – but you would also have the option to get notifications on your phone like a text message.

Another feature is that they track expenses and allow you to reconcile the costs of shared expenses between you.

Co-parenting apps often include some kind of filing cabinet or information bank where you can store details related to your child's height, weight, allergies, shoe sizes, etc. It often includes copies of important documents like healthcare cards or birth certificates so that you both have access to them during your own parenting time and you don't have to bother the other parent when you need certain information.

It also will hold shared contacts, so both of you have access to the doctor's telephone number, the dentist's telephone number, or even your child's best friend's parents' contact information.

There is a cost to these services, but lots of people think that it's worth it to be able to organize all your co-parenting matters into one hub.

It’s also worth mentioning that you can duplicate the features of a co-parenting app just with a Google account where you'd have a calendar, you'll have Gmail for messaging, Google Sheets to track expenses and share contacts, and a Google Drive where you can upload and share documents.

Ultimately, it's a good idea, regardless of the method that you choose, to set expectations about how to keep each other informed and what method you're going to use to do it.