Families Need Fathers Scotland has issued the following press release publicising our Christmas tips factsheet:

Christmas can be the loneliest time of the year for divorced or separated parents. It is the time they most want to see their children but it may not be their turn to have them for Christmas Day. For many, mainly non resident fathers and their extended family, it is never their turn.

Families Need Fathers Scotland is recommending eight survival tips for fathers – and non resident mothers – as well as grandparents, aunts and uncles whose contact has been lost or reduced when the parents separated.

Ian Maxwell, FNF Scotland National Manager said, “We have calls and e mails every day at this time of years from non resident parents in great distress because arrangements to see their kids at some point over Christmas have broken down or abruptly changed or have simply been refused. We appeal to both separated parents to take the opportunity presented by the spirit of Christmas to set aside their personal issues for the benefit of their children. If they do that it could be the platform for greater goodwill in the New Year.

Scottish Government minister for Children and Young People, Aileen Campbell, said, "Christmas can be a really tough time for separated parents and can heighten emotions or disagreements, making it more challenging to come to an agreement over contact. Like other work Families Need Fathers have done with us on the National Parenting Strategy, this advice offers practical suggestions for getting through a testing time.

"It is really important to recognise that these tips are not just about making Christmas fun for children. They are also about helping parents to cope when they are away from their children and to take steps to make sure that they look after themselves too."

FNF Scotland is hoping to build up a greater presence on twitter. It will be useful as a channel for getting out quick responses to news stories that may interest members and the wider shared parenting community. It will also be handy for getting out our own news - about monthly meetings and events. And finally, RTs (retweets) can be an effective way of spreading news and requests - for example our pressing need is to find new office accommodation.  Our twitter tag is @FNFScotland. Please follow us so we can spread the net wider. Thanks.

FNF Scotland is collaborating with the Parent Network Scotland to run parenting training sessions, with the next one taking place in Glasgow on Thursday 24th January from 6-8pm.

This session will explore the experiences of the fathers attending, and look at understanding the links between behaviour, feelings and needs in children and teenagers.

Attendance is free, but places should be booked by emailing [email protected].

This week BBC Radio 4 is running a series of episodes on Lone Parenting during Women's Hour.

Monday's segment on lone parenting discussed the stigma of being a lone parent.

Tuesday's segment discussed the economics of single parenting.

Today Tamsin Greig had an episode on Single Parents: Negotiating Childcare. The programme discussed "how best to negotiate with the absent parent on issues of childcare – such as spending time with the children and holidays; setting rules on boundaries and discipline – from food to bedtimes and video games; how to make big decisions such as choosing schools; and how to provide a united front so the child doesn’t play you off against one another."

Women's Hour is on BBC Radio 4 FM weekdays 10:00am - 11:00am. Lone Parent Week will continue until Friday 11th May.

BBC Radio 4 programmes can be downloaded as podcasts. Podcasts are available to download for 7 days after the programme is broadcast. Alternatively you can listen again on BBC iPlayer.

Update on Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 4:46PM by FNF Scotland

Jenni Murray will be taking calls about single parenting in the regular phone-in at 10:00am on Friday 11th May 2012.

The phone-in shall cover negotiating with your ex-partner when it comes to making decisions about your children; how a new partner is introduced to your children and your ex and; how children are affected when their parents are no longer together.

  Parenting in separated families is covered in several videos available at this site, including this one and another about how older children are affected by the split.

The rage of topics covered by Parentchannel tv is vast, and they are a handy length for browsing.

One suggestion would be for more coverage of the bitter and protracted problems faced by many of the people who contact Families Need Fathers.  While many separated parents behave in the civilised way shown in these videos, significant numbers don't.  After all, the children shown aren't all angels.

FNF Scotland will be in touch with Parent Channel to suggest some scenarios for future films.