Talking With Your Children About Your Family

Children and Teenagers will ask many questions of you over the years. At times it can be hard to find the right words, particularly if what they are asking us upsetting for you. In this section you will find a number of articles written on how to talk to your children about these subjects. They include: How to Talk To Your Children About Your family SituationHow to Explain An Absent Parent and How to Nurture Your Role As A Step Parent.

The term ‘absent parent’ refers to a parent whom a child has never met or has had very little contact with. Note: This is different to a ‘non-resident parent’, ‘non-primary’ or ‘secondary carer’, or when parents co-parent/share parenting of their child.  This article explores how to explain an absent parent to your child.

Parental separation is hard on every family member and calls for many changes to be made. Routine changes can be disruptive to children, especially in times of emotional distress. This article helps you to understand what may be going on for your children during a separation.

For a parent the thought of telling your children that you and their other parent are separating is incredibly hard to imagine not alone do.  It is however crucially important that parents talk with their children as soon as possible once a decision to separate has been made.

After a separation, one parent usually becomes the primary carer with the other parent seeing the children on weekends or holidays. This article explores steps you can take to ensure successful shared parenting.

Christmas doesn’t have to be a difficult time for parents who do not live together and share parenting of their child. This article explains how you can achieve successful shared parenting over the Christmas period and show you how early planning and an open mind can lead to a happy holiday season for you and your family.

This article offers some tips on how non-resident/contact parents can positively maintain contact with their children after a separation. It also offers ways to help both parents to focus on keeping their child at the centre of parenting.

The introduction of a new partner who may become a step parent requires a lot of care and patience. This article explores how you can integrate a new person into your family in a sensitive way what is best for all parties involved.

Being a stepparent can be a very difficult role within the family. The level of complexity it brings to the family and the individual is often underestimated by every family member. In this article we offer some tips on how you can nurture your role as a step parent.

Everyone who is a parent can benefit from family support. Grandparents can be a wonderful source of strength and knowledge, especially to a mum or dad parenting on their own. This article talks about how you can support this relationship and achieve the best outcome for your whole family.