It didn't happen overnight. It happened in inches.

By early 2022, getting my teenage sons to school during my parenting time had become such a struggle that I made a decision I would later regret: I told them they could decide when they wanted to stay with me. I thought removing the fight would protect our relationship. Instead, our everyday time together slowly began disappearing.

Then, after simply checking on my sick son while his father was out of town, I received a call from the police. Suddenly, I was being told I could no longer step onto my ex-husband's property—even to help my children carry their belongings to the door.

In Episode 102 of After the Quiet, I look back at the small changes that I now recognize as the beginning of parental alienation: fewer school nights, hidden rides home, increasing distance, sh ...