“We wanted to start a family without waiting to meet our soulmate”: the winding search for the ideal co-parent

71 conversations and 46 dates , that's what it took for Naya (1), a lesbian marketing manager, before she met Léo (1), a gay real estate agent. Six years after their meeting, the two, just in their forties, take turns telling their story, while the other tries to tame "the storm" embodied by their 4-year-old offspring. A seemingly ordinary pair of parents, except that they are, and have never been, "neither together nor in love," but co-parents. "In our thirties, we wanted to start a family without having to wait to meet our soul mate," summarizes Naya, who first searched among her entourage , "old childhood friends I haven't seen since middle school" included, in search of a man with whom to embark on this life project. Leo, for his part, had even resigned himself to labeling himself heterosexual on dating apps , and then explained his co-parenting project to his dates ... who weren't keen.

And for good reason, co-parenting is an approach