Parents in Texas often dream of magical holidays for their children, but when parents are divorced and co-parenting, this can seem challenging. However, with some planning and organization, parents can ensure that their children will have holidays they will always remember even though the circumstances might not have been the ideal ones.
Think about what is best for the children
As with all aspects of child custody, successful co-parenting is about putting the children first. If you are thinking about how your children can best enjoy the holidays, you must be flexible about how they spend these days. You might not get everything you want, but if your children are the priority, then you can understand why it might be important for them to spend some time with their visiting grandparents on their other parent’s side of the family, for example.
Plan early for the holidays
Waiting until the last minute to discuss holiday plans with your co-parent can create unnecessary conflicts between you and affect the children’s enjoyment of the holidays. However, you can sit down early on and negotiate how you will approach the holidays. Some of the things you can do include:
- Listing the family gatherings and other holiday events you each want to take the children to
- Reviewing your child custody order to go over any holiday parenting schedule included in the order
- Creating a holiday parenting schedule focused on the children if you did not have one included in the order
Co-parenting during holidays will also include time away from the children, which might
be difficult emotionally. However, you can also see this as an opportunity to treat yourself by seeing friends and family that you might not have spent time with in a while. You can also take the opportunity to create new memories with your children during the time you are with them, helping them enjoy the holidays even more.