Joint Custody: Why a Holiday Visitation Schedule is Crucial
Parenting time matters, so separated or divorced families must arrange holiday visitation schedules without frustration and anxiety. Children can develop fond memories of their holidays with family, but when visitation schedules become fights, those memories become disappointing. Fortunately, separated families can organize their plans with less stress.
- Work With Lawyers
If you cannot arrange your schedule without a fight, it might be time to hire family lawyers in Melbourne. Lawyers can help parents mediate uncomfortable situations, so their children don’t have to suffer along with them. To make the most of your time with your family lawyers, arrange the holidays for several years.
- Share the Holiday
Families can split the holiday with one parent having the beginning of the day and the other having the end. You can choose the holidays you want to split, like Easter, Australia Day, Christmas, and birthdays. When you share holidays, you’ll have to arrange transportation that day and decide where the children will sleep.
If parents struggle to decide who gets the morning and afternoon, you can alternate the holidays annually. You could also let the children choose where they would like to spend their mornings and evenings on that day. Parents could also leave it up to chance by flipping a coin.
- Choose Separate Days
Parents can also celebrate holidays with their children on different days. One parent can celebrate Christmas, while the other gets Boxing Day. Parents can alternate each year, or they can decide to be the Boxing Day parent every year.
Having a regular schedule helps children become excited about spending a particular day with that parent. With a regular schedule, children have less anxiety because they know what is coming and can look forward to it.
- Alternate Holidays
Some families decide that alternating holidays makes the most sense to them. Parents can start by sharing the holidays that are the most important to them. For example, one parent might want Easter every year, but the other wants the Queen’s Birthday. Parents can choose the holidays they want, but if a problem exists, they can flip a coin to decide who gets the holiday in even or odd years.
You could keep the same holidays annually or swap them evenly each year. For example, one parent gets Christmas during the odd years, while the other gets Christmas during the even years. Parents can schedule holiday parenting time for several years to reduce stress and anxiety.
Parents can also divide entire holiday weeks or weekends to give children continuity. Traveling back and forth daily can be stressful for everyone, especially if parents aren’t near each other. Parents should consider the children’s experience ahead of their own experience and only include the children if they are old enough to understand what’s happening.
- Create Your Own Holiday Traditions
Despite the country having set holiday schedules, families can do what they want with them. The goal of a holiday schedule is to create special memories and to celebrate each other.
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