Major holidays offer an excellent time to build family traditions and connect with the young ones in your life. If you travel with your kids during holidays, they may also improve their interpersonal skills. Still, as a co-parent, you probably do not want to hog every holiday.
It is possible to come up with a holiday-sharing arrangement with your ex-spouse. If you did not negotiate a schedule during your divorce, you may have some options for ensuring you and your children’s co-parent reach a fair agreement.
Alternate holidays
Perhaps the fairest way to divide holidays is simply to alternate them. To do so, first determine which holidays are necessary to share. Then, have your kids spend one holiday with you and the next with your ex-spouse.
Set holidays
In many families, some holidays are more important to one parent than the other. If this sounds familiar to you, you and your ex-spouse may want to have a fixed holiday schedule. With this approach, you determine who has the kids for each holiday, and the schedule does not change.
Share holidays
If you and your ex-spouse live near each other, you may be able to share each significant holiday. That is, both you and your children co-parent have the kids at some point during every holiday or special day.
Replicate holidays
With many holidays, the actual day is not as meaningful as the festivities. Consequently, if you and your ex-spouse both want the kids for a certain holiday, you may be able to celebrate the holiday on a different day.
Because negotiating holiday sharing can be difficult, it is critical to remain flexible. Ultimately, by putting the interests of your kids first, you are likely to find a solution that everyone can accept.
