[qs mom]

A close friend of my had a similar situation. She stopped telling her boys that daddy was coming to visit. When he came up the driveway, she would tell them dad's here.

This way the kids weren't waiting to be disappointed and hurt. SHe would end up spending the day trying to explain why daddy didn't show up, trying to let them know it wasn't their fault, etc.

If they didn't know he was coming, they couldn't be hurt.

Her oldest son is 11 now. He has now decided that his dad unreliable. And he just takes him at face value. Her youngest son is 6. He is unfazed. He doesn't know when is dad is expected, so when he shows up, great, when he doesn't, he really doesn't know.