Why a divorced father still buys his ex flowers on her birthday, and does it with pride.

There is no way to shield a child from the pain of their parents’ divorce or preventing them from dealing with psychological issues down the road. But effective co-parenting by former spouses can go a long way towards creating the best of a bad scenario.

Researchers believe that children of divorce benefit when their parents treat eachother with respect. 

“Parents need to remain parental,” clinical psychologist, Valerie Hale, told The Desert News. “They need to stay the grownups, and that’s hard to do when they are in one of the most difficult periods of their lives.”

“Always put the children first,” Hale continued, “even when you are angry or distressed at what the other parent is doing or saying. “Your conflicts should never be bigger than your children’s needs.”

Billy Flynn, the divorced father of two boys, is a great example of how a father can put his children’s needs first. He went out of the way to celebrate his ex-wife’s birthday and had no problem posting about it on Facebook.

The post quickly went viral and has been shared almost 120,000 times and earned nearly 220,000 reactions.

His post got a lot of love …

While some men completely missed the point.

To clarify his views and address the criticism he’s received, Flynn elaborated on his views to USA Today.