A guest blog today by Sarah E.Clarke, Child Psychotherapist

Divorce and separation are incredibly difficult, but Christmas can be particularly hard to navigate, especially for children.  The pressure to have a lovely time can create its own problems.

However there are things you can do to make everyone’s lives a little easier.

You don’t have to carry on as normal

My children’s father and I separated in September 2010. Our daughters were aged four and one. For me, divorce felt inescapable but I was determined to make it as amicable as possible. I think my ex may have carried the hope that we could still work things out and this combination of idealism and fantasy meant that we agreed to spend Christmas together, “as normal” which meant going to stay with his parents.

This was a terrible idea and one I would hesitate to recommend to anyone. When you are caught up in the horror