Almost six years ago, when the father of my children and I divorced, we wholeheartedly agreed to share joint custody of our two children, who were 3 and 6 years old at that time.

During our nine years of marriage, we had never argued about parenting philosophies or values. I saw no indication that parenting after divorce would be any different.

So, with the help of lots of books and research, I set about creating a lovely best-case scenario of how it would be after the divorce: co-hosting birthday parties, welcoming each other