Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi everybody, welcome back to another episode of Co-Parenting Academy, and today I'm super excited because we have a guest with us to talk about a new entrant into the co-parenting app space. His name is Saul Kennedy and he is the owner of Best Interest. You can find the app at bestinterestapp is their website, and this is kind of interesting because it takes a new perspective on how to reduce conflict in co-parent communication. It's one that I haven't seen before. I thought it was fascinating, and Saul was kind enough to be willing to talk with me about it. So, saul, welcome.

Speaker 2: 0:36

Thank you, ron, I'm really excited to be here.

Speaker 1: 0:39

So tell me, how did you come up with Best Interest app? What made you think about coming up with a new co-parenting app?

Speaker 2: 0:48

Well, I'm a co-parent myself and I've been at it for about five years now, and one of the things that I discovered in my co-parenting relationship that we both struggled with was communication. You know, we would get into cycles of blame and shame and defensiveness, and that would take me out of the experience of being a father and being present with my kids. I would be absorbed in that turmoil caused by the communication, and so, having that experience, I started playing around with. Actually, originally, I hired someone to review my messages, review the messages that were incoming, see if they were okay, filter them and then send them to me, and that helped because it allowed me to get out of kind of that defensiveness that I found myself getting into. But it wasn't sustainable, you know, I couldn't pay this guy to keep doing this forever, and so when I heard about AI, I thought this is an interesting application of this new technology to essentially serve as a filter between two co-parents that sometimes don't get along, and that was the start of the spark that has become best interest.

Speaker 1: 2:08

Well, very cool. So then, how does that work? How do you use AI as part of your app to help the parent communication?

Speaker 2: 2:16

Well, one of the best things, or AI's best at, is language understanding. That's really the progeny of a lot of the modern chat apps like ChatGPT that you see, is that they understand language in a really incredible way, and so what best interest is at its core is it's reading every message that goes back and forth between two co-parents and it's filtering those messages so that the message stays child focused. So, let's say, your co-parent, who doesn't have to be using the app, actually sends you a message that perhaps contains a little bit of challenging content, triggering content, maybe. She calls you a jerk, right, and then says pick them up at eight, or else with a threat.

Speaker 2: 3:04

Well, we can understand that using the power of AI, and we can strip out everything but the part that you need for you to function as a co-parent. So you'll just receive the message please pick them up at eight, right and effectively. That's allowed you to function as a co-parent without needing to get defensive or take you out of the experience, and then it allows you to go back later. You can use the app and see what the original message is. So you'll see a little note saying there's more to the message, and so, when you're feeling more resourced. Maybe your kids are at school or you're with your therapist or something. You can open up that message and you can do the work to figure out your triggers and see why you're getting defensive.

Speaker 1: 3:45

So how and this is maybe a too technical question, I don't know how do you train the language model on what to strip out and what not to strip out so the co-parents can trust, when they see that synopsis, that they're getting the important stuff?

Speaker 2: 4:03

Totally. Yeah, I mean the best interest. Ai is trained on a variety of different interactions that co-parents can have, various situations, and so that training was based on interactions that a lot of our beta testers have had, and also additional training. We have an advisor, dr Romany, who helped with the training as well, so that training essentially allows it, so that we understand different situations and how to interpret certain messages in terms of like the meaning behind the message, which is more advanced than just you know using chat, gpt, if you were to just use it, plain vanilla.

Speaker 1: 4:50

Gotcha. You know it's interesting the Matrix just got re-released to movie theaters for 23rd anniversary and my son and I went to go see it this weekend and I promise this connects. The reason I'm thinking about that is because, you know, at one point Neo walks in and the guy's just watching the screen with just the supposed to be the data scrolling down and like the green text, and he's like how do you just look at the source code and he's like, yeah, I just see like there's a blonde, there's a brunette, there's a car or whatever. I wonder, have you had an experience with any folks who, after using best interest app for a while, are able to just sort of do that with a challenging co-parent communication? They just sort of see can you please pick the children up at eight and sort of disregard all the other stuff? I know that was a long way to get there.

Speaker 2: 5:44

No, I am a big Matrix fan, so I appreciate the reference and also that it's re-released. I did not know that. So, yeah, there is a term called gray rock, which is often used when talking about dealing with narcissists or other challenging communicators, and the essence of gray rock technique is that you function as a boring gray rock, so you learn how to. No matter what your co-parent, in this case, says to you, you're meant to respond in a non-emotional, very simplistic way. Right, and when you employ that, it can be very effective, because then you get out of the cycle that keeps you trapped. Right. If you're dealing with a narcissist, just as an example, you know they're not going to receive the defensiveness that they kind of crave to then go on to their next attack and then keep you engaged. Right, they just get a boring message back like okay, and then keep you engaged. Right, they just get a boring message back like okay, and there's nothing for them to grasp onto, and essentially that's what best interest is allowing you to do, right.

Speaker 2: 6:51

So becoming gray rock is almost like you have to go through the process of getting to the place where you stop justifying your actions, you stop defending yourself. It's sometimes quite challenging. I would find it very challenging to get to that place myself, but because you're using best interest, it's doing all that work for you. So in essence, you have trained your relationship to reduce the amount of tension going between you. So it almost doesn't really matter how much emotional work you've done yourself or your ex right? You've suddenly reduced the amount of tension in your relationship and you've both benefited by employing the best interest app in that relationship. Does that make sense?

Speaker 1: 7:46

Yeah, it does, and it reminds me that I haven't asked you a more sort of granular question about how it works. So, from the parent perspective who's using it, could you please describe how that interaction works, like what they actually are doing and seeing, how that interaction works, like what they actually are doing and seeing? And then you mentioned at the same time you mentioned that both parents don't have to add the app or agree to use the app.

Speaker 2: 8:16

Can you explain, while you're doing that, how that's possible? Yeah, sure. So, if you have any, I'm sure you've explored some of the other co-parenting apps out there. Typically, actually, all of them work in a way where both parents have to agree and, as you know, getting your co-parent to agree, especially to a co-parenting app, can be very challenging, right? Some co-parenting relationships just aren't there. So what's really special about Best Interest is all you have to do is you download it from the App Store or the Play Store. So what's really special about Best Interest is all you have to do is you download it from the App Store or the Play Store and you basically sign up and send your co-parent a new phone number that they can use, that it operates just like a normal texting number. They don't need to know you're using an app, but just that you changed your number for them, and so now it's going through the app.

Speaker 2: 9:04

We're filtering and parsing when you send responses. We check for tone, we make sure that you're not getting defensive, you're not being abusive in any way. We check and we we don't filter for the user. We actually are just reviewing your message and giving you feedback on how you can better communicate and then that message goes back out as a text message, and so that's the first way and the more innovative way that best interest can operate, that you can just be a co-parent that's having a really difficult time. You can download the app and experience relief. The other way we can operate is like the other co-parenting apps If both parents decide to use it, it's actually really beneficial because you're both getting coached in your communication how to communicate better. So you can invite your co-parent to the app if you think they'll agree and they can download it. You can just both use the app and communicate directly without having to go through text messages.

Speaker 1: 9:55

I'm just imagining you know someone who has a boss, who's a jerk in text messages, someone who's got I don't know in-laws or parents who are challenging or siblings or whomever. You don't have to be a co-parent to see the benefit of having this communication tool in place for yourself if you got someone who has you know kind of abusive communication practices.

Speaker 2: 10:22

Totally, we all have people like that in our lives use of communication practices Totally. We all have people like that in our lives and you know, I'm a very sensitive man, so it's challenging for me, when I'm dealing with people like that, to not feel I just I feel it. So a tool like Best Interest really helps, especially people who find themselves to be very sensitive to get out of it, and I agree like this concept can be applied to many different relationships. The Best Interest app is currently developed and designed for co-parents, but I do see a future in us exploring other avenues, other ways that we can help people get out of these conflicted relationships and communicate in a better way, be nicer to one another.

Speaker 1: 11:05

That would be. What is that, bill? And way Be nicer to one another.

Speaker 2: 11:10

That would be what is that, Bill and Ted, Be excellent to one another.

Speaker 1: 11:13

That's the goal for the future, exactly, yeah, in that last response that you gave, you were talking about some concepts that I found when I was looking at some of the good articles that are on your website, and when you were talking about justifying and defending and all that, that's a reference to the JADE technique. Could you describe what that is?

Speaker 2: 11:32

Yeah, so the JADE technique is similar to Grey Rock, it's just another way of looking at it, and basically you have the acronym of JADE, which is justify, argue, defend and explain. Right, those are the things that you're not supposed to do, especially when you're dealing with someone who's high conflict. So if you find yourself going into justifying yourself or arguing or defending yourself or explaining anything, that's a clue that you need to stop what you're doing and you need to not react, because all of those four things can get you into the cycle of high conflict communication that many of us find ourselves in. That's essentially what it is.

Speaker 1: 12:19

And so when I was reading through that article I was thinking a few things.

Speaker 1: 12:23

One just about the acronym, and I'm going to talk about justify versus explain, but then also I was thinking about it from the role of a family law attorney, and also I'm a parenting coordinator and a guardian ad litem, and so there are some implications there for how co-parents work within the confines of existing orders too that I think is maybe helpful to talk about. But when I was doing that justify versus explain, I was trying to figure out what the difference is, because justify and explain are kind of similar and I guess the sense that I came to correct me if I'm wrong I often am was that justifying was more externally focused. Was that justifying was more externally focused? It's trying to say, hey, I need your positive feedback on my thought process to make me feel better about what I've done, or I need to convince you that I was correct and explaining can simply be. There was a rationale behind my decision. This is the rationale. It's sharing your inner thought process without seeking external validation for the decision you came to yeah, that's, that's essentially my understanding as well.

Speaker 2: 13:32

You want to get out of the pattern of justifying um, any decision that you make. So, like if you're trying to adjust um, like you, you to adjust the kid's schedule, it can be really simple. You can say I need to trade this date for this date, right, and you don't need to get into an explanation for why you need that, because that's a place where a high conflict person can hook on to. They don't need to know why you're asking for a particular thing or you're doing a particular thing. And if they do ask why and you get into explanation, then it's just it leads you down that rabbit hole of conflict. So essentially, that's, that's what we're in the Jade technique. You are meant to reduce that type of communication.

Speaker 1: 14:28

And I guess there must be a trade-off then, because I can imagine, even if it's not a high conflict person. Let's say we have two pretty reasonable people and parent A says you know, hey, if possible, I need to change the pickup from Thursday at 8 to Friday at 6. Is that okay? And parent B, being a reasonable parent, says I can move some things around. Is this really something that's important? Like cause, I'm going to have to do things on my end and give up some things that I wanted to do. Can you help me understand why we're doing this? So I imagine that's getting an explanation, but it's probably a trade-off. If you're not willing to explain, then you may not then get the action that you're seeking.

Speaker 2: 15:14

Right, and you know, just to bring it back for a moment, you know we're talking about high conflict situations, not your typical interaction, right? If you're working with a reasonable co-parent, simple explanations are a very kind way of you know, interacting. It gives them some context, right? There's nothing wrong with those inherently. But the J technique is suggesting that by reducing the amount that you're justifying your actions and explaining your actions, then you're getting out of the cycles. So it wouldn't be recommended for your run-of-the-mill two co-parents mostly getting along situation. This is only for people that are in intense entanglement and high conflict.

Speaker 1: 16:02

And I get that. And even in those circumstances you could run into the same situation. I'll give you an example. So I'm in Oklahoma and very typically judges are going to want to see parents try joint legal custody at a temporary order stage to see if it has any possibility of working before they get to final. So you could find yourself as a co-parent in a temporary order stage with a joint legal custody where you're required to try to reach agreements together, and so you're going to have to do some explaining. Sure, and that's what I was thinking about previously. You know, sometimes like, and sometimes people can be chameleons. You know, sometimes people who are very abusive in some ways can fake the funk for a period of time in order to get to a final order that gives them joint legal custody, and then their true nature starts to reveal itself when the spotlight's not on them anymore.

Speaker 2: 16:59

Sure.

Speaker 1: 17:00

So I can see lots of circumstances in which you have a parent who is co-parenting with a more difficult co-parent in terms of communication. They have to explain their positions, explanations. So maybe sometimes you may wind up with Jad instead of Jade, because you're going to have to do some explaining. But you don't have to be defensive about it. You don't have to try to justify yourself. You don't have to get into arguments.

Speaker 2: 17:30

Yeah, that's fair. I think you know, in general, just keeping things really simple, I mean that's good practice for all of us, right? General, just keeping things really simple, I mean that's good practice for all of us, right, but don't get into the deeper explanations if you don't have to, right, and oftentimes you'll. You know, maybe give a simple explanation and then they ask well, why do you need to do that? And then that's more engagement and that's more messages, right?

Speaker 1: 17:58

Right and it may get into information that you know would just cause that person to be upset and isn't necessary. So, like in my co-parenting business I have with my partner Linda, we have our communication protocol and the very first thing on there is necessary, Like only say what's necessary. So if you need to switch because you have an engagement on that night and you'd like to make it if you can, but that engagement happens to be with your new boyfriend and you know that's going to set your ex off, you don't owe them the explanation of the engagements with my new boyfriend. That explanation of I have an engagement that I would like to attend if possible should be sufficient.

Speaker 2: 18:30

And that's kind to reduce that amount of impact on your co-parent.

Speaker 1: 18:37

That's a really good point. Yeah, because sometimes I can see on the other end someone who wanted to sort of needle a little bit could say oh yes, because I'm out with my amazingly attractive new boyfriend who's better than you in every way.

Speaker 2: 18:51

So I can see that it's not going to make anyone feel good. It's not going to make anyone feel good.

Speaker 1: 18:55

Yeah, for sure, that's 100% for sure. And then also, you know it's a fine line between explaining and arguing, so you can state what your position is, what your rationale is. They can disagree. Line gets established by drawing proper boundaries, which is another key thing that I think is a basis of our app helping draw proper boundaries.

Speaker 2: 19:25

Totally, yeah, I mean. So my perspective on boundaries that has come into the app is that boundaries are not. A lot of people, including myself, before I learned this. It's like boundaries can be used as a way to control. You can't talk to me like that, right, that's not really an effective boundary unless it has some type of kind of recourse that you yourself can do, right. So, for instance, ron, you can't talk to me like that. You're saying mean things. That's not okay, that's not a boundary. But if I said you know, ron, the next time you talk to me like that, I'm going to leave the conversation. That's a boundary that I can enforce. So it gives the power to me. And you know, some of your listeners I'm sure have had the experience of being in relationship with people that really are boundary pushers. Almost pathologically they push into boundaries that you set and that's really uncomfortable. But if you are the one that is enforcing the boundary, then you don't have to rely on the other person to respect you.

Speaker 1: 20:54

And that is essentially what your best interest app is. It's setting a boundary that isn't trying to control the other person, but is drawing a line on your side of the telecommunication network that protects you from the negative impact of unhealthy communication.

Speaker 2: 21:14

Totally. You're not asking them to change. They can continue communicating how they want to communicate to you, but you're setting a boundary for yourself that you don't want to be triggered every day.

Speaker 1: 21:22

Right, yeah, and you know one of the things that I tell my clients all the time is, every time that your co-parent communicates with you in a mean or unhelpful way and you're not a jerk back, then you've received a gift, and the second that you're a jerk back to that person, then you have essentially thrown that gift away. And what I perceive the best interest app as you're explaining it to do is it reduces the cost to the properly behaving parent of that quote-unquote gift, because they're able to track and keep record of the actual communication, but they're able to insulate themselves from the immediate impact of it, and so they still have the benefit of showing the court or their guardian ad litem or the parenting coordinator. This person is an unhelpful communicator, but they're not feeling like they're getting, you know, body shots every day, like they're Rocky and Rocky one. You know, for all the ladies out there, he liked those Rocky references, yeah, like they're Rocky and Rocky one, just getting the tar beat out of them getting the tarp beat out of them.

Speaker 2: 22:34

Yeah, yeah, that's a really good point and I would extend that in saying too you know, court can be very expensive and, depending on what type of co-parent you have, you might be finding yourself dragged back to court for literally everything and even text messages.

Speaker 2: 22:46

They can be misconstrued, right, they can be taken out of context, and if you send just one message that doesn't sound great to a judge, even out of context, that can be problematic for you. So it's really important to be mindful of the messages that you're sending, and that's one thing that best interest helps with. So not only is there the filter to try to avoid the triggers that might get you into a defensive or other posture, but then there's the outbound review. So when you go to send a message, you're protected, right, because we review every message that you send and if it qualifies for you know a number of things that we're looking for, essentially triggered communication then we'll punt it back to you and say you know, there's another way to say this that's perhaps simpler, more straightforward, less triggered, and then that is a message that gets sent. So essentially, you're protecting yourself on both sides. You're protecting yourself from your own triggers, but then you're also essentially only sending messages that would look good in court, which is very important in co-parenting situations.

Speaker 1: 23:58

Yeah, and I guess that makes me think of a couple things. I mean, I can imagine some people saying well, yeah, but you really actually thought it, so you're no better. But we get to feel what we feel. It's our behaviors that we need to watch. We're allowed to have whatever feelings come up.

Speaker 2: 24:13

Totally. I mean, if we all could have this in our pockets all the time, I think it would really reduce the amount of conflict in the world. Right Is that we can all go into that place for a moment and if we respond immediately and that's one other technique that a lot of people talk about is like take a deep breath, maybe even step away from your phone, come back later and respond. Right, take some time, right, but in this situation you don't necessarily have to, because best interest is kind of handling that for you. If you do go into trigger, then we'll make sure to stop it before it goes out.

Speaker 1: 24:48

Yeah, and it also. I've had many domestic violence victim clients and what you find with domestic violence victims very often is that they feel unsafe whenever they're with the person physically, and so very often what they have learned to do is to wait until they get to a place where they feel safe and and then they send scathing messages because that's the only time that they have learned to be able to be physically safe while saying what they feel. And I've had cases in which people try to use those messages because they don't understand how domestic violence impacts somebody, and so this also could be very helpful for someone who's gotten into those communication patterns as a result of domestic violence to strip out everything that's loaded into that communication, because their fight or flight gets triggered whenever they think about having a conversation with that person, let alone seeing in real life.

Speaker 2: 25:49

Totally, and I think that extends to other types of abuse, to emotional abuse. Cptsd is a real thing and it can cause us to react in ways that we're fight flight, we're not thinking rationally in the moment and then, essentially in your example, your client is in trigger, sending really negative messages. Well, that's in writing. That's even worse, potentially, than the in-person communication.

Speaker 1: 26:20

So yeah, Very often it's hard to prove incidents of physical domestic violence, but it's very easy for them to say how am I the abuser of the messages that they send me? So this could be helpful for someone who is dealing with that kind of history where they have just, I think sometimes their go-to is triggered communication because they're always trying to protect themselves. So this would help them immensely there as well.

Speaker 2: 26:48

Right, and it's a good way to learn too. You know, as you're using this app, we're coaching you through the process of communication, so you learn from it. It's not just a one-off thing where the message gets reviewed and then it's like, oh okay, this is why this would sound better, and so, over time, you learn how to do it on your own without needing an app, right.

Speaker 1: 27:08

And you know there's. Everyone loves to say my ex is a narcissist. So here's how it goes. The ladies usually say my ex is a narcissist.

Speaker 2: 27:19

Sure.

Speaker 1: 27:21

My ex is bipolar or has borderline personality disorder. That's how it always comes, and so one of the things that I thought was interesting in an article on your site was that it doesn't really the label doesn't matter. You don't have to have a diagnosed narcissist, because the bottom line on that is there are far fewer than we think there are. If every person was a narcissist who someone came in and told me was a narcissist, we'd have to redo all of the findings from the psychologists about how many narcissists there are in the world. So it really doesn't matter. The psychologists about how many narcissists there are in the world, so it really doesn't matter.

Speaker 1: 27:59

And also, when it comes to narcissism you know I'm going to use from your article part of what it said you've got narcissistic traits such as manipulation, lack of empathy and a need for control. Those are pretty common. But also that's everyone who's just pissed off in a divorce you know what I mean there's manipulation going on, you're trying to set up your case and win. A lack of empathy You're not feeling a lot of empathy for the other parent right now and need for control, because everybody feels out of control when they're going through a separation and the court's involved. So really everyone going through the process can dip in and out of some of these traits that we would consider to be narcissistic.

Speaker 2: 28:40

Totally. That's a really, really good point and I'm glad that you made it. You know, I agree with you and I don't feel like the labels are all that helpful. You know, they're helpful for communicating about an experience, right? I think if someone comes to me and says I'm in a relationship with a narcissist or my co-parent is a narcissist, I trust them, I trust their experience. Their experience is that the person that is communicating with me is causing me a lot of pain, and that's what's the most important thing. The label itself.

Speaker 2: 29:12

It's almost impossible to diagnose a narcissist officially because they'll never go to a therapist's office, right? Just not what they do. So you don't get a lot of diagnosed narcissists. So we're all kind of left guessing. And you're right, everyone can have traits of narcissism, for sure, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 29:29

There are many situations where normally functioning people in very stressful situations revert to some of those old patterns. In fact, those old patterns may have been given to them by the relationship they're exiting, or even their parents, right? And so we go into those like more animal tendencies of control and fight and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, right? It does not matter who the narcissist is, and I think that you know it's better when we focus instead on our feelings and the impact. You know what is it like to be a co-parent with this person and what are your actual experiences about how they communicate to you, right? That's what's really more important than a label. And then you know at the end of the day, like we all need to work on how we communicate with everyone in our lives, how we can better understand one another, especially in times of pain. So that's partly the reason for best interest is that it doesn't even matter if you're the narcissist, right, because a lot of people do. That's another thing. A lot of people.

Speaker 2: 30:40

When they're going through their healing journey, especially if they're suffering from codependency, it's very common for people to start questioning gosh, am I the narcissist? I'm so confused, like narcissists, don't know they're narcissists, maybe I'm the one, right. And that can be really problematic, right? And what people typically say about that is that if you think you're maybe the narcissist, you're definitely not the narcissist. So kind of a mind trip there.

Speaker 2: 31:06

But at the end of the day, like it's really about communication. And so if we can learn how to manage our triggers, we can learn how to just be kind in all of our interactions and be very simple in our communication. That can reduce the painful cycles that you find yourself in in a high conflict situation and it actually improves the experience of the other co-parent. You know, even if you're learning Gray Rock and you're employing it, that will help the experience of the other co-parent, whether or not they're an narcissist. They're going to stop thinking about you as much, obsessing about you as much, and that's better for them. They get to move on sooner. So I like to encourage people to not worry so much about the labels.

Speaker 1: 31:49

Just trust the experience that they're having. Yeah, what you just said reminded me of a book that we just went through on the podcast, no Drama Discipline, and they talk about upstairs frame versus downstairs brain and just people who haven't listened to that episode first. Why haven't you listened to that episode? You know, get with it. It was a couple of weeks ago. But you know, the downstairs brain is more of a ptelian brain. It's your fight or flight, it's that area. The upstairs brain is your thinking brains, your cortex, it's all of that.

Speaker 1: 32:19

So this best interest app is kind of like having the upstairs brain on a device for you, like when you're not there, when you're triggered and you're having trouble regulating yourself using this app for your communication. It's kind of like having your upstairs thinking brain being put on a device and it's saying hey, you know, maybe this isn't the best way. Think about this. Maybe I can put some labels on what you're feeling like. This is, um, and I'm not sure exactly what the message you get back is, but what you're telling me it sounds like it. It's giving you another, more objective perspective that helps you maybe engage your thinking brain to consider what you were communicating and maybe what you're feeling, which by itself could reduce some of the stress that you're undergoing.

Speaker 2: 33:06

Totally, or like an angel on your shoulder, you know, or your higher self looking down.

Speaker 2: 33:11

Right, it's coming from a, because fortunately, computers don't have emotion, right, ai doesn't have emotion.

Speaker 2: 33:20

It can look at your ex's message and say, oh, that's kind of awful, but it's not going to react in the same way that you're going to react, so it can strip it easily without you know, getting into crying fits and you might not be able to do that. So the other thing that's interesting about it is that you, if you had, I'm a big proponent of therapy and I go to a therapist and oftentimes I'll bring messages to her right Saying look what she sent to me, you know, and yet it's like she can't be on my shoulder all the time, looking over everything that I'm sending and like that moment of trigger is gone. I probably have already sent my response. You know the damage has been done, right, but if she could, you know she would be giving me advice all the time. And that's essentially what this app is attempting to do is taking a third party mental health perspective on communication, going in and out of a relationship and making sure that everything stays above board, like you said, in like the upper brain rather than the lower brain.

Speaker 1: 34:32

So you've been extremely generous with your time. I'm very grateful To wrap it up, unless there's something else that you want to say or talk about. How does this app compare to things like our Family Wizard and Talking Parents? What are the differences between them? Do you just use Best Interest App and not the others? If you want to do calendaring and things like that, how does that all work together?

Speaker 2: 34:56

Sure, yeah, our focus right now has been on developing the communication platform. So, like you highlighted, best Interest is really focused on making sure communication is more successful between co-parents. We also have a journaling feature which allows you to take secure notes of interactions. So, if you've had an offline interaction, and then we have a co-parenting coach feature which is also an innovative feature that none of the other apps have which, if you have an interaction you're not sure what to do or there's a situation in your co-parenting relationship you're like I need some advice, then you can go in and you can type out exactly what's going on and then you'll get some real time advice about how to handle that situation. If it's a message, how to respond to it, that sort of thing, and that's the V1.

Speaker 2: 35:45

I do plan on. You know we're growing the app and we do plan on adding things like calendaring and other things that co-parents need. So, right now, if that's an aspect that you need, then, yeah, certainly our family wizard is one of the more popular ones. Talking parents are good options there, but let's see. So you also mentioned about, like, the distinguishing factor of best interest, and I think having an AI co-parent coach is a very unique feature being able to invite your co-parent, if they don't want to use an app, to actually experience the benefits without having to get them to use the app is also very unique. I don't think the other ones offer that, and the other thing is that Best Interest is very new and itty bitty. These guys are much bigger, so this is a brand new app.

Speaker 1: 36:40

I know what you're saying. Our building our co-parent academy and it is a lot of work to get those things off the ground and start commuting with the people for 20 or 30 years. So I get it.

Speaker 2: 36:53

I have to say it's from a personal experience perspective. It's felt really good to take my own painful life experience and turn it into something good for the world and for other co-parents. I really do believe that best interests can help other co-parents in high conflict situations to experience peace for the first time and that's why I built it.

Speaker 1: 37:16

Well, I think it's amazing. I'm excited to try it myself. And is this something that's available to parents right now? Go and get if they want.

Speaker 2: 37:24

Yeah, yeah, they can go. There's an introductory offer and then just go to the App Store or the Play Store and they can download it right there. Okay, well, saul, is there anything else? That you just go to the App Store or?

Speaker 1: 37:33

the Play Store and they can download it right there, okay, well, saul, is there anything else that you wanted to say?

Speaker 2: 37:37

No, this has been a great interview. Thank you for your time, Ron.

Speaker 1: 37:40

Yeah, no worries. Thank you very much. I hope you have a great rest of your week.

Speaker 2: 37:43

Okay.

Speaker 1: 37:44

Bye now.