Guy Ritchie and Madonna

As Madonna and Guy agree to share custody of their children, we find out how to make divorce as painless for your kids as possible...

After weeks of mud slinging, Madonna and Guy Ritchie have been granted a quickie divorce, and have agreed to share custody of their sons, Rocco, seven, and David Banda, three. From now on, Rocco and David, along with Madonna's daughter Lourdes, will split their time between London and New York. "It was never about the money... never about her bloody art collection. I just wanted to settle it and move on," says Guy. "I didn't raise any objections at any stage until she insisted the children lived permanently in New York."

However Anne Cantelo, author of 'It's No Big Deal Really: A Parent's Guide to Making Divorce Easy for Children', (Fusion Press, £10.99) has her doubts about whether joint-custody can really work when parents live so far apart.

"I'm delighted that Guy has fought so hard to continue to see his children. However shared parenting only works (for the children) if the parents live close enough to each other for the children to attend the same school and be a reliable member of the teams and activities that are so important for a child’s development," says Anne. "As a child, can you imagine how difficult it will be fore them to keep up with their friends?"

But is it ever possible to make divorce easy on your children? "Yes, I've fond that, if handled well, divorce can benefit children," says Anne. "Single parents often develop much closer relationships with their children and step families can introduce them to new and interesting worlds and people.”

With that in mind, we asked Anne for some tips on how to help kids deal with divorce...