Couples and Co-Parenting: Being a Parent

The Family Odyssey of Cynthia Bonnet

Love is often spoken of as a natural impulse. Yet, once children arrive, this impulse collides with a busy daily life, shortened nights, ever-growing to-do lists... and an emotional fatigue that settles in insidiously.

It's not that love disappears; it changes form, it shifts. But too often, without realizing it, we stop nurturing it, as if its solidity were a given, supported by shared history and love, as well as common responsibilities.
However, a couple does not sustain itself solely "by love." It needs to be cultivated, worked on, revisited. And this requires time, awareness, attention, and courage.

Many parents report a common observation: since the arrival of children, their relationship has transformed. Conversations mainly revolve around logistics, tender gestures become rarer, and moments alone together become almost a luxury.

The attention given to one another diminishes, absorbed by the needs of the children and the family as a whole. And, without realizing it, the couple goes into standby mode.

But behind this distance, there is not a lack of love; rather, there is often an excess of roles: that of parent, worker, household manager... and the gradual forgetting of the role of lover sets in.
Rediscovering romantic energy doesn’t necessarily mean going on a romantic weekend (though that certainly helps); it starts with relearning to see each other, to talk differently, to truly listen. It also means accepting that love evolves, that it becomes more demanding, and that it invites us to revisit how we connect, how we touch, how we give each other attention. Sometimes, it’s simply about making room for humor, complicity, and surprise, like those small gestures that remind the other, "I still choose you, even amidst the chaos."

Being co-parents does not mean the couple fades away; quite the opposite. When parents manage to take care of their bond, the entire family balance benefits.
A calm couple means children feel secure.
A couple that communicates turns disagreements into adjustments instead of conflicts.
And a couple that listens consists of two individuals who continue to grow side by side without losing themselves in their roles.

This is the essence of Florentine's conference "Parents, but not only," offered as part of the Family Odyssey Summit 2025, which will be held online and free from November 5 to 9.

Florentine shares concrete and compassionate tips to revive connection within the couple, reinvent communication, and rediscover the pleasure of being together, even amidst parental responsibilities.

The Family Odyssey Summit brings together dozens of experts, therapists, and researchers each year around a shared goal: to help every family move forward with more awareness, gentleness, and clarity.

You can register for the Family Odyssey Summit by clicking here (click)