Positive parenting, co-parenting, is a great ideal. Sometimes the best you can do is paralell parenting. Your son is young and like all kids, he does need both of you and if you can be friendly, great, if not, civil can work too.
With an ow in the picture, I think I would stay as dim as possible. Of course when it comes to your son, you will need to talk and the dinner idea is a good one....if there wasn't another person involved. That would be a deal breaker for me.
You though, aren't me. You son is much younger than my D's were and for most it winds up being joint custody, so you have to be able to talk.
I'm not the best resource for this one as I am one of the really lucky ones. I have my D's 24/7, always have had.
If it weren't for the ow, I would say that dinner as a family can be a positive activity. That's too big a fly in the ointment for me. If it isn't for you, and you decide that you want to give it a whirl, you don't have to do it any longer that what works for you.
