Holiday etiquette: 1. Welcome the other parent into your home for at least a visit on the holiday, if at all possible.

Putting aside marital frustration for the kids’ benefit is both parents’ responsibility. Even on the worst day of a marriage or after a divorce, both parents can be grateful to one another for their children. After all, parents will have to spend their entire lives interacting with each other at events that revolve around the children, so this is just one more opportunity to practice. Some may argue that it is too confusing to the children to fraternize when spouses have divorced, but therapists agree that children just want their families together. If it is truly impossible to stand the sight of your ex-spouse, let the ex come over to the former family home and visit with the children and see their gifts on the holiday, even if you have to leave while they stay. Even when marriages cannot be reconciled, families can stay together. Spouses are divorced, not children.