Helena Young has been the centre of her parents' world since her premature birth at 24 weeks. But that's about to change as Helena's mum is pregnant. The birth of a sibling can be particularly stressful for the first-born. How will Helena cope and will her dad, Barry, be able to help his daughter through this challenging time?

In our Etch-a-Sketch experiment we reveal just how mums and dads may approach things in completely different ways giving their children a richness of experience.

Parys Lapper has lived his life in a single parent family - he's never had a dad. Parys and his mum Alison - who's been disabled since birth - have an intense relationship. But because of Alison's disability there needs to be a carer in the Lapper house. Recently there's been a high turnover. The inconsistency is making Parys unhappy. What are the long term consequences for Parys?

We know that involved fathers help children develop empathy. Using a bowl of chocolate ice cream and a broken spoon we discover just how empathetic our children are.

Charlotte Goldsmith's parents split up more than four years ago and she's been living with her mum Emma ever since. Although Charlotte did see her dad Paul in the beginning, he is now being refused access. Is it possible to 'remove' a dad from a child's life?

Charlotte Langeveld's parents, Jacqui and Richard, separated a year and a half ago and she now lives in two different houses. She lives with her mum and sees her dad twice a week. At this young age what does Charlotte understand about the family breakdown, and how will it affect her relationship with her dad?

By using a set of concentric circles we determine just how close the children feel to the people in their lives.

Richard and Ruth Price set out to raise their son Nathan in an untraditional way: where childcare was shared, Richard worked from home, and vegetarianism was the norm. But as Richard's career starts to take off, he struggles with the amount of time he can spend with Nathan. It's one of the dilemmas of modern fatherhood - how much a provider and how much a carer?

Rubin Bayfield has two dads - he lives with his stepdad but sees his biological father, Ian Morgan, every six weeks. Ian wasn't expecting to be a dad and hasn't had contact with Rubin from the very beginning. So what kind of relationship can you have being a part-time dad?

This BBC/Open University co-production is the third programme in series five and will be shown on BBC1 on Tuesday 18 January 2005.