A parents’ guide to separation

Malin Bergström, illustrated by Lotta Sjöberg

How do you tell children that you’re going to separate? Is shared residency, involving a child having to move between two homes all the time, actually good for small children? How can you be good adult role models when you disagree about everything? These are just a few of the questions that this book answers.

Many parents feel guilty about putting their children through the trials of separation. The family is breaking up, you might need to move far away from your children’s friends and, for financial reasons, you often have to accept living in a much smaller home. But it is possible to get through a separation and give your children a good new life in two different homes as long as you as parents face the fact that you need to form a strong and lifelong team around your children because you will both be their parents for the rest of your lives.

In this book, the very wise Malin Bergström gives you advice and support based on modern research into, among other things, personal crises, the two-home solution for children of different ages and bonding of small children. She guides you as a person and as a parent through the different phases of separation – all with the children’s welfare in mind. And for parents that, for different reasons, are unable to cooperate, there is advice on how to handle different situations for the good of the children. If you can’t talk to one another, then there are other ways of communicating. What’s most important is that you continue to be good parents to your children – you don’t necessarily need to be good friends – and that includes being able to cooperate on issues that involve them.