How do you teach children about money and financial responsibility?
Speaking about his equation with Seema on the reality show The Alliance, Sohail said that although they are separated, he has immense respect for her as the mother of their two children. He also revealed that their sons, Nirvaan and Yohan, live with him, while Seema continues to visit them regularly. “I have given her the keys,” he said when asked whether she could come to his home whenever she wanted.
But perhaps the most telling part of what Sohail said was not about the living arrangement. It was about what he and Seema want their children to experience.“No stress for the kids; she and I can handle it,” he explained, adding that they do not want their children to feel that their parents are constantly fighting or arguing. He said they have told their children that they have “the best of both”- a mother and a father- and that their parents continue to make decisions together. That is, in many ways, the heart of healthy co-parenting.
Children should not have to carry the weight of a broken relationship
When parents separate, the emotional fallout can easily spill into everyday family life. There may be anger, disappointment, unresolved disagreements or even hurt that takes years to process.But children should not become the place where those emotions are deposited. A child should not have to listen to one parent complain about the other. They should not be asked to carry messages between their parents, choose whose home they prefer, or feel guilty about enjoying time with one parent when they are with the other.The marriage may have ended, but a child’s relationship with both parents does not have to. Sohail’s approach appears to be centred on precisely this distinction. Whatever happened between the adults is something they can deal with as adults. The children, meanwhile, should be allowed to remain children.
Co-parenting does not mean pretending everything is fine
One of the misconceptions about co-parenting after separation is that parents need to become best friends. They don’t. Healthy co-parenting is less about being close and more about being able to work together when it matters.Seema herself has previously spoken about the difficult phases that followed their separation, including anger and conflict, but said that they eventually moved past that period because they had to think about their children, who “never asked for any of this”. She has also described herself and Sohail as a strong team when it comes to their sons.Parents can disagree about their past relationship and still agree about what their children need. They can have different personalities, different homes and different ways of doing things while maintaining a shared sense of responsibility.The goal isn’t to erase every disagreement. It is to prevent adult disagreements from becoming a child’s emotional burden.
The family can change without disappearing
For children, divorce can make the world feel suddenly different. Perhaps there are two homes instead of one, different routines or fewer occasions when everyone is together.But separation does not necessarily mean that the idea of family has to disappear. Sohail and Seema have been separated since 2022, yet they have continued to participate in their children’s lives. Their recent appearance together on The Alliance also showed that their relationship has evolved rather than simply ended. Seema has described them as better friends than they were as a couple and said they remain a “unit” when it comes to their children.That may be one of the more realistic ways to look at post-divorce parenting. Not every relationship can be repaired. Not every marriage should be saved. And not every divorced couple will eventually become friends. But when children are involved, the relationship between two adults can still be reshaped into something constructive: two people who may no longer be partners, but remain parents.