Why Sharing Your Location with Your Co-Parent is Optimal: A Guide to Respect and Safety

Sep 18, 2025·By Cori McGuire

As a parent, it’s natural to want your children to feel safe, happy, and secure, especially after separation or divorce. Co‑parenting brings its own challenges, and one issue that often creates tension is sharing basic information about where the children will be during parenting time, such as the city or province you’re travelling to when an order or agreement already contemplates that information being shared.

For some parents, this can feel intrusive or unnecessary. Questions like “Why do they need to know?” or “This is my time with the kids” come up often. From another perspective, though, sharing this kind of information isn’t about control or permission. It’s about predictability, reassurance, and keeping things running smoothly for everyone involved—especially the children.

Why information‑sharing can matter

When parenting arrangements include expectations about sharing travel or location details, following through can reduce stress on both sides. Knowing where the children are helps the other parent feel settled and avoids unnecessary worry. In everyday life, that sense of reassurance matters more than we sometimes realize.

It also helps prevent children from feeling caught in the middle. When information isn’t shared between adults, children can end up feeling like they’re keeping secrets or managing adult reactions. Most kids don’t want that role. They do better when communication happens parent‑to‑parent and stays out of their hands.

Keeping things predictable also tends to reduce conflict over time. When expectations are met consistently, there’s less room for suspicion, misunderstandings, or repeated arguments about the same issue. That predictability benefits everyone, including the parent who is travelling with the children.

Keeping the focus where it belongs

Sharing basic location information doesn’t take away from parenting time or autonomy. It doesn’t mean asking for approval or justifying plans. It’s simply a way of keeping the other parent informed in a manner that aligns with existing arrangements and supports a calmer co‑parenting dynamic.

Children notice these things. When they see their parents exchanging information respectfully and without drama, they learn that they don’t have to choose sides or manage adult emotions. They get to just be kids.

At the end of the day, co‑parenting isn’t about winning points or proving independence. It’s about creating a stable, predictable environment where children can feel secure in both homes. Small acts of cooperation—like sharing where the children will be—often go a long way toward that goal.

This article discusses general considerations and may be updated over time. It is not a determination of the Best Interests of any particular child. Reproduction requires prior written consent.

Written by Cori L. McGuire,a Parenting Coordinator since 2008 and a family law lawyer since 1998 in British Columbia. Read Swear Words or Caring for Sick Children and other articles about considering "the best interests of the child" in our Resource Library.