Protecting Your Rights Through a Personalized Approach

For most of the year, the constant cycle of school, work, and other daily activities makes your schedule fairly predictable, and that means it’s pretty simple to create the terms for your child custody agreement. However, when school lets out, the weather warms up, and free time can be found in plenty. That means it’s a great time to take a vacation, plan some activities, or even just get away from the monotony of your daily life and enjoy some quality time. In order to so, you’ll have to temporarily m modify your parenting plan to accommodate both your wishes and the other parent’s. Here are some tips for creating a temporary summer child custody schedule.

Start Early

If you’re planning on taking a big vacation, odds are you don’t leave planning for the last minute. You shouldn’t do the same with your child custody schedule. Odds are you probably know about any big summer trips well in advance, and this should give you enough time to set up your child custody schedule accordingly. Generally, you want to have this sorted out by mid-spring (late-April) or possibly earlier if you wish to include spring break plans in your agreement as well. However, it’s not too late to come to an agreement if the calendar has reached May or even June before you get started.

Know Your Goals

As stated previously, you most likely know what dates you would like to either have custody of the children or make sure the other parent can take custody. Making a child custody plan doesn’t usually involve working in approximations or estimates, and the other parent won’t like having to make plans around assumptions or ideas for your schedule. This not only handcuffs them and their plans, but means they have to plan for both instances: whether they’ll have child custody at one point or not.

Be Flexible

Creating a temporary custody schedule is a give-and-take process—if you are requesting child custody that interferes with the other parent’s scheduled time (such as to take a vacation with the kids), be prepared to give that custody time back later. For example, if you want to take a two-week vacation that takes up one of the other parent’s weeks of normal custody, be prepared to give back a week of your own custody when you return. This way both parents still receive the proper amount of time with their kids while still being able to do what they want during their summer.

Recognize Kids Need Supervision

Summertime means kids are free from school, but many parents don’t get that same luxury and have to keep going to work. That means they’ll need someone to keep an eye on the kids, particularly for younger children on days where both parents are at their jobs. While some parents choose a summer camp or daycare center for these purposes, those who don’t have this ability or choose not to may need to take time off from work to watch the kids. If this is the case, be sure to bring this up when meeting with the other parent and let them know. While you should be prepared to take some time off to watch your children, the other parent shouldn’t make that solely your responsibility. Caring for children is the responsibility of both parents, and thus both of them should share the load when it comes to possibly taking time off in order to watch the kids during summer.

Don’t Be Afraid to Change Custody Durations

Do you have a normal arrangement that sees the children live with one parent during the week and the other during the weekend? Now might be a good time to switch things up! Consider having one parent take custody for a week straight and the other parent have custody for the next two. It might prove enjoyable to switch things up and get away from the typical routine, and the kids may enjoy spending more time with their parent who they normally only see on the weekend. Find a plan that works for you and your family and give it a try—your whole family will likely benefit from it.