Holidays - Scheduling for These Special Days

Crafting a parenting plan that addresses holiday arrangements can help ensure a smooth transition into post-divorce family life.

• Holidays often prove to be particularly challenging
• Strong emotions and anxiety
• Clear and mutually agreed-upon holiday arrangements to avoid conflicts
• Try and put emotions on the sideline and establish a holiday parenting plan that has the best interests of your children in mind
• Balance maintaining the most important traditions but also consider this time as an opportunity to start some great new holiday traditions

Holiday Schedule Options

1. Regular Parenting Schedule. Silent on holidays or align holidays with the regular parenting time schedule established in the plan
2. Specific Holiday Schedule. Implementing a separate holiday schedule that supersedes the regular parenting time schedule, with holidays specified in advance.
3. Method Only. A method of sharing holidays in the parenting plan but do not actually dictate a schedule.

Here are some of the common holidays typically included in parenting plans:

• Thanksgiving
• Religious holidays
• New Year's Eve and New Year's Day
• Fourth of July
• Halloween
• Memorial Day
• Labor Day
• Children’s birthdays
• Mother’s Day and Father’s Day
• Other culturally or personally significant holidays

Key Considerations

• Unique preferences and traditions of each parent
• Logistics of transporting children between households during holiday transitions
• Establish a clear, detailed plan for what the holiday schedule will look like to avoid conflict
• Consider the possibility of creating alternative holiday traditions or celebrations to accommodate shared parenting arrangements and promote inclusivity