As Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s approach, dealing with child custody can be overwhelming. Splitting holidays with your co-parent can be challenging to work out, and celebrating a major holiday without your child can be emotional. Whether you are already divorced, this is your first holiday without your child, or you are navigating a divorce with child custody aspects, this blog will help break down creating schedules that work for your unique situation and how custody is determined in the first place.
Why You Need A Holiday Custody Schedule
When you have split custody of your kids, dividing up holidays is part of the process. Especially major holidays, parents’ birthdays, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day will need to be discussed between co-parenting partners. Creating a schedule will help avoid miscommunication and confusion for your child when these special days roll around. A schedule creates boundaries for all people involved, tells them where the child will be and when, and helps you to plan a budget for gifts or travel. A well-planned schedule will allow for travel and seeing multiple family members, while also ensuring that both parents have time with their children.
Alternate Holidays
One of the easiest ways to navigate holidays as a co-parent is to alternate major holidays each year. For example, one parent has the kids for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, while the other parent has them Christmas afternoon and potentially the day after. Switching up holiday schedules every year allows the child to have ample time with both parents and never leave one parent alone for every holiday.
Holidays that parents could alternate include:
- Thanksgiving and Christmas
- Easter and 4th of July
- Thanksgiving and New Years
- School fall break and spring break
Tips For Navigating Holidays As A Co-Parent
Navigating divorce and missing your children through the holidays can be very draining. Co-parents often are alone on a holiday they once spent with a full house, so here are some tips to create a good holiday schedule and navigate the loneliness that comes with child custody during the holidays.
Always Put The Child First
While all of us navigate emotions and changes in life, your children should come first. When creating a schedule with your co-parent, think about what is best for your children and their relationship with each parent. Fighting over holidays can cause children to undo stress, so working out the schedule in a civil manner and away from the children may be best. Consider the children’s school schedule, sleeping arrangements, and their current trials when making a holiday visitation schedule.
Accommodate New Traditions
Whether it’s for you or for your children, be open to new traditions and changes in your typical holiday activities. Since you may not have your children for the days leading up to Christmas or Easter, you may need to introduce a new tradition that occurs after the holiday. Instead of Easter baskets on Easter morning or an egg hunt, you plan a botanical garden outing the week before. For Christmas, maybe you watch Christmas movies and have a second Christmas Eve after the children have celebrated with your co-parent. It may not look the same as before, but holidays can still be magical after a divorce.
Work Out Conflicts Ahead Of Time
Creating a schedule and itinerary ahead of time will help you avoid conflicts on the day of. Avoiding confusion over pick-up times and sleeping arrangements will keep children calm and prevent fights between co-parents.
If you are still in the process of a divorce, working with a lawyer and private investigator to help get you partial or full custody before the holiday season can limit stress on your shoulders. Figuring out child custody arrangements and visitation rights before Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year will be best for everyone.
Spend Time With Your Extended Family
While the holiday may not look like it once did, that doesn’t mean you need to spend that time at home, alone. If you won’t have your kids for a holiday, plan to visit extended family on the holiday, host a friendsgiving, or plan a festive outing with family and friends. Similar to being open to new traditions with your children, making the most of a holiday season and adopting new traditions for yourself can help you feel less lonely without your children.
Child Custody Investigations From St. George PI
St. George Private Investigations helps those going through a divorce with custody investigations, infidelity surveillance, and much more. Our private investigators can gather evidence to prove that you are fit to care for and have custody of your children. We are dedicated to doing our job with efficiency, legality, and safety, allowing all evidence we gather to be used in your court proceedings. Reach out to us now and navigate the upcoming holiday season with ease.