Nursery World - Positive Relationships: A parent's guide to ... children and divorce

Parents who are splitting up need to think carefully about how they approach it with their children, and they will welcome the help of early years practitioners, says Annette Rawstrone.

Q: How common is divorce?

Almost two in every five marriages in the UK ends in divorce. Half of all divorces in England and Wales involve one or more children under the age of 16, and of these, 20 per cent are younger than five and 63 per cent are under 11 (Office for National Statistics). The break-up of co-habiting couples is even higher.

Whatever the statistics, you can be assured that you're not alone in considering divorce or separation. Your child is likely to have peers in the same situation and early years practitioners will have worked with many children who have experienced their parents' break-up.

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