dip
Buy Coffee

Your questions

Questions parents in Malaysia ask us

The questions we hear most from parents here, whether both homes are in the same neighbourhood or a long drive apart. If yours isn’t answered here, write to hello@coparentspace.com.

Is dip really free?
Yes, and free means free. dip costs nothing for either parent. There’s no paid tier waiting to appear later, no ads, and we never sell your data. Private counselling for a separating family can run a few hundred ringgit a session. Cost shouldn’t be the thing that stops a family getting the ordinary week in order.
What is the Pauline Sam Method, and does it fit families here?
It’s a clinical framework for families living across two homes. It puts the child’s emotional safety first, and it starts from the belief that both parents are trying their best. It was developed by Pauline Sam, MD, a psychiatrist and dip’s clinical consultant. Everything we build and everything we write follows it. We apply it to the weeks families here actually have: handovers in the morning jam, exam season, and the first festival, whichever ones your family keeps, spent across two homes.
Is my information safe, and can anyone else see it?
Yes. Tone Check runs entirely inside your own browser, so what you type never leaves your phone or laptop, and nothing is stored. We don’t sell your data to anybody. Where the law requires it, non-essential cookies stay off until you choose to turn them on. What you keep in dip isn’t on show to relatives, in-laws or anyone outside the two of you.
Who is dip for?
Parents raising a child across two homes: separated, divorced, or still working out what happens next. It works the same whether both homes are in the Klang Valley, or one parent has moved back to Penang, Kuching or Kota Kinabalu. Your community, your faith and the shape of your family don’t change how dip works.
Can dip advise me on my legal position?
No. That isn’t what dip is for. dip gives you supportive self-help writing and practical tools, nothing more. It isn’t medical, psychological or legal advice, and it can’t stand in for a qualified professional. For anything legal, a family lawyer or mediator is the right person to advise you. If you or your child may be in danger, call 999. If you need to speak to someone, Talian Kasih 15999 is the national helpline.
What does dip actually do, day to day?
A shared calendar so both homes see the same handovers, school runs and holiday dates. A simple way to split costs in ringgit without keeping score. A calmer space to message your Co-Parent. A private vault for the documents you always need at short notice, like the birth certificate and the report card. A knowledge library written for separated families. And a directory of vetted help, with 65 Malaysian practices listed: family lawyers, mediators, therapists and child specialists.
What do you mean by “two homes”?
When parents live apart, one childhood stretches across two homes. dip is built so that childhood still feels whole in both: the same schedule, handovers a child can predict, and calm messages between the adults. A child shouldn’t have to carry the timetable between houses, or repeat in one home what was said in the other.
Which languages does dip work in?
dip is available in 10 languages and built for separated families in several markets, Malaysia among them, alongside Singapore, Indonesia and the Netherlands, with more being added. This is the English site for Malaysia. There’s a Bahasa Malaysia version and a Chinese version too, so each parent can read it in whichever language sits most comfortably.
We’ve just separated. Is it too early, or too late, to start?
Neither. dip is built for parents raising a child across two homes, whether you separated last month, are in the middle of a divorce, or settled things years ago. The schedule, the costs and the messages sit in one calm place, so the week runs with less back and forth. Getting the ordinary days right is what a child feels most.
Can dip hold our parenting plan or custody arrangement?
The shared calendar holds whatever pattern you’ve agreed: week on, week off, alternate weekends, or something built around shift work, tuition and the school term. Both homes see the same handovers. The free Temporary Parenting Agreement walks you through the basics of a parenting plan while things are still being sorted out. dip is not legal advice, so for anything binding, a family lawyer or mediator can advise you.
Does it handle a 50/50 or week on, week off arrangement?
Yes. Set week on, week off, 2-2-3, alternate weekends, or a pattern that fits around tuition, exam season and the drive between the two homes. Both parents see the same schedule, and any change shows up for both, so nobody finds out at the school gate.
Things between us are tense. Will this make it worse?
It’s designed to bring the temperature down. Tone Check shows you how a message is likely to land before you send it, which helps most late at night, when the right words are hardest to find. The shared record means there’s no disagreement afterwards about what was agreed. And a set structure takes a lot of the friction out of handovers and money, which is where most of the difficulty sits.
Will the record be accepted if our matter goes to court?
dip keeps one shared history that both parents can rely on. Once something is written it stays, and any edit leaves a visible trail. We can’t tell you what a court in Malaysia will or won’t accept, and families here take different routes, so please confirm that with a family lawyer or mediator before relying on it.
How does it handle shared costs?
Log the things that actually come up: school fees, tuition, uniforms and shoes, the paediatrician, the enrichment class, the school trip. Split them without keeping score. It sits in one list in ringgit, so who paid what stays clear and nobody has to ask twice or raise it at handover. dip is an organising tool. It isn’t a payments service and it isn’t a legal one.
I’m carrying most of it on my own. Is dip still for me?
Yes. dip is for any parent sharing a child across two homes, including the many who carry most of the daily load themselves. Use it to keep the schedule, the costs and the messages organised, and to reach the knowledge library and the Malaysian directory of vetted help when you need more than an app.
How is dip different from OurFamilyWizard, TalkingParents and the rest?
Those apps are built around detailed court-record keeping, and they charge a subscription, in some cases per parent. dip is free for both parents, with no ads and no data sale, which matters when the rest of the process is already costly. Alongside the shared calendar, costs and messaging, dip adds a clinical knowledge library built on the Pauline Sam Method, and a vetted directory of Malaysian family lawyers, mediators and therapists. Our focus is a calmer week and a childhood that stays whole.