”Underlying this question is anxiety about family situations that feel different from your son's. The first point to stress is that just because a parent isn't physically with a child doesn't mean he doesn't love him. “It's about promoting the idea that even if he isn't in the house any more, his daddy can still have lots of contact with Jack,” says Denise Knowles, a family and relationship counsellor for Relate. “Draw on your experiences: just because Dad goes to work every day or goes off on business, it doesn't mean that he loves you less.”

If Jack's parents have separated recently, it's best not to make too big an issue out of it. “Don't avoid the subject, but don't behave as if it's the biggest tragedy in the world,” advises Karen Woodall, the director of the Centre for Separated Families and the author of Putting Children First: A Handbook for Separated Parents (Piatkus Books, £9.99). “Don't worry if your children ask lots of questions; they often go where we fear to tread and can be curious about different living arrangements.”

One assumes that single-parent families are less beneficial for children than two-parent ones, but not necessarily; what impacts on a child's wellbeing is how well the parents get on, whether they are together or apart. “The research shows that the trouble for children is conflict; it's the key aspect that is damaging for them,” says Woodall. The children who do best in one-parent families are those whose parents have successfully managed their differences. Where conflict is low, the relationship between child and separated father is always better. So you could explain to Daniel that if a parent moves out, often it is for the good of the whole family, not an act of abandonment.

Woodall says: “We always advocate that separating is to help the parents have a relationship with their child that is conflict- free; so the time they spend together is good time, not complicated by arguments.”

It can be reassuring for children in more conventional set-ups to know that people can go through different experiences, such as divorce, and adapt well. “Children adjust very well when parents work together,” says Woodall. “It is good for any child to know that people can live differently, survive and be OK - it can prepare them for anything unforeseen in the future.”

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