The holidays are a special time for most families. When you go through a divorce, you probably still want to enjoy the memories with your children. The issue with this is that you will have to split time with the other parent. Taking the time to review your parenting plan and holiday plans now can help you reduce the stress you’ll have to deal with as the season moves along.
Think about the special activities that each side of the family engages in during the holidays and try to ensure that the children get the opportunity to enjoy being with family members. This might take some compromise on the part of both parents but thinking about what’s in the children’s best interests is imperative.
Your parenting plan should have information about when your kids will spend time with each parent during the holidays. There is usually a special schedule for this. In some cases, children may alternate which parent they spend the actual holiday days with each year. In others, children will always spend the same days with each parent. Still, being able to work together to try to let your kids enjoy as many festive activities as possible is best.
This is also a good time to think about new family traditions. You and your children can work together to determine what everyone will enjoy. Things as simple as watching holiday movies while drinking hot cocoa might be ideal, but you may have other options like going to watch a parade.
If you and your ex can’t figure things out together, it might be necessary to get your attorney involved. This is best done as early as possible so that issues can be resolved before the holidays.