The Default Parent
The default parent is the one everything routes through: the parent asked for everything, who holds the whole plan even when someone else is nominally helping.
They are the one asked "where are my socks," the one whose mental to-do list never empties no matter how much they delegate, because they are still managing the delegation. They are, in effect, the family's central server that everything pings.
Being the default parent is exhausting precisely because the role is invisible and never switches off. The goal is not more help with individual tasks, it is to stop being the one everything has to route through.
Common questions
What is the default parent?
The default parent is the one everything routes through: asked for everything, holding the whole plan even when someone else is helping, and whose mental to-do list never empties because they are still managing the delegation.
How do you stop being the default parent?
By handing off whole domains completely rather than single tasks, so someone else owns an entire area without being managed, and by getting information out of your head and onto a shared calendar.