Parenting During the Holidays for Couples Going through a Divorce

Divorce is never easy for your children.  Put yourself in the shoes of your children and think. Since the birth of your children, there has always been a set way of doing things. Family vacations, birthday parties and other ceremonies were planned as a family, and now the culture and the way of doing things will change drastically. The parents they grew to love as a couple are going to be taking care of themselves individually.

It is evident that even after divorce, active parenting needs to be done to help your children feel at home in their life with as little change as possible.  A good divorce attorney will work to ensure that you and your spouse to sit down and talk about the children’s activity calendars and your own, and help you devise an effective parenting plan. Take a look at a few aspects that will help you in devising an effective parenting plan.

Holidays

Holidays are the most emotionally charged part of a parenting plan. Most parents have the habit of spending holidays with their children and a change in that order can prove to be very difficult for the parent and the child to swallow. In such a case, flexibility helps. The only alternative to dividing the holiday time of the child among each other is trying to spend the holidays together.

In our long list of clients, we still have parents that get on well enough to enjoy the holiday season together to give the child as much of a sense of yesteryear  as he/she can be given. It is, however, not necessary. The necessary aspect in this is that whatever plan you formulate, there should always be a backup plan, to avoid undue complexities and disappointments.

Family Vacations

Most families have a healthy tradition of going out for family vacations, and we hope you continue this tradition even after divorce. After divorce though, you and your ex will need to discuss about the concept of notice. Notice is the length of time you’ll want to know before your spouse takes the kid out of town for a family vacation.

When talking about the family vacations part of your family plan, the parents should have a discussion and decide the amount of time each parent gets to spend with the children. Since both of you will want to travel and enjoy with the children, this is very important to avoid conflict down the road. On a more practical side, think about your child’s travel documents such as his/her passport and other things. Who has them and who is going to have the responsibility of making sure they are up to date and renewed?  These are all considerations that you must take into account.

Gerald A. Maggio is an experienced Orange County divorce and family law lawyer and family law attorney located in Irvine, California, serving the Orange County and Riverside areas. Mr. Maggio assists clients with legal issues including divorce, legal separation, divorce mediation, child custody, prenuptial agreements, stepparent adoptions, and other family law issues. Mr. Maggio has practiced law in California since 1999, and founded The Maggio Law Firm in 2005, focusing exclusively on divorce and family law matters.