It can be hard to decide the right way to share child custody with your ex. Making arrangements for the day-to-day needs of your children can require a lot of compromise between former spouses. Holidays can also present unique custody challenges.
Parents will typically plan out a schedule that determines who gets to spend which holidays with the kids. Although there are numerous ways to split custody and handle the holidays, many parents choose either to divide the holidays or sometimes to share them. How do these different approaches work?
When you split the holidays
If the parents come from different religions or cultures, dividing the holidays might actually be an easy approach. If they value different holidays, each parent can potentially spend the holidays that they celebrate with the children.
If the parents both celebrate the same holidays, then they will have to make arrangements to alternate when they celebrate those different holidays with the children. This approach means that the kids get to spend their entire holiday with one parent.
When you share the holidays
Sometimes, the children make it clear that they would prefer to have both of their parents around on holidays and other special days. If the two of you can be civil toward one another, agreeing to get everyone together for the holidays could be what is best for the children. However, this kind of arrangement can do more harm than good if parents get into arguments with one another that destroy the mood of the gathering.
Thinking about the different ways you could share custody over the holidays can help you make realistic plans for your family.
