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Co-Parenting Tips for the Holidays

The holidays can be a stressful time of year. There are many chores associated with them. You need to invite company, worry about their accommodations, plan dinner, get presents and the list goes on and on. But it is a difficult time for kids as well, especially for kids of a divorced couple. Everything that happens at both households can effect them. With that in mind, we created this blog post containing some tips to help make life a little easier for the young ones during the holidays.

1. Don’t make children decide who they want to be with for each holiday. Plan the days out with your spouse and only if they child interjects should you switch the schedule. They usually don’t want to be in a position to have to choose and may fear hurting one parent’s feelings.
2. Coordinating gifts is a good idea. Making sure that the other parent didn’t buy the same gift is one reason this is important. But also you will want to avoid any perception that one parent is trying to outdo the other with better or more expensive gifts.
3. Be willing to compromise with your former spouse/partner. When making plans, make sure to consider what your former partner may have lined up. Put yourself in his/her shoes when planning out the dates. It should be about as 50/50 as you can possibly make it.
4. Start planning a month early. Planning early removes any potential scheduling conflicts and helps each other build a mental model of how the holidays will go. Just like in every facet of life, good planning usually makes for better results.
5. Remember extended family. It is important to remember that your former partner’s family will want to see the children too. They should be considered when scheduling the holiday plans.

We hope these tips can help make your holidays even that much better. Holidays have a tendency to put a lot of extra stress and strain on parents. Thinking things through well before hand can help alleviate some of that stress.