Right or Wrong?

On my way home from work yesterday, I was listening to the radio and one of the hosts was talking about friends of his and his wife's.... a couple, who had recently divorced, with 2 small children, 2 and 3 I think. Since their breakup, they had started dating, and both had significant others. But, they didn't want to hurt their little children by having to tell them and try to explain about their divorce, so they agreed to "pretend" to still be happily married in front of the children - they'd hug, kiss, and basically act as if nothing wrong had ever happened and everything was fine. Of course, their new s.o.'s were a bit "disturbed" by this; hell, I would be too! I think the couple had planned on telling the children when they were older, maybe around 8 or 10, but were going to put on this act until then.

This brings up the topic of "staying together for the kids." Should you? I mean, in a way, sure it's noble, not to put the kids through a divorce, even an amicable one, and just play nice until the kids are grown, and then they can go their separate ways. On the other hand, they're living a lie and lying to their children - is that ok? What kind of effect is that going to have on them, when they do find out the truth? Would it be better for the kids to know that their parents sacrificed their own happiness and stayed together even when they maybe hated each other's guts?

After this story on the radio, there was a flurry of phone calls from people telling the host that these people, his friends, were fuckin' insane and the kids would probably be more screwed up by this charade than actually hearing the truth. What do you think??