As a parent, you want the holidays to go well for your kids. You may have some worries though about whether this will be able to happen. This may especially be the case when you are going through a divorce.
The challenges divorce can pose forthe holidays can be addressed
A divorce can present difficulties over the holidays. Divorce changes a family a lot, so it can greatly change how a family celebrates the holidays. Such change can be tough for kids.
Also, the holidays could present a variety of potential flashpoints for arguments between ex-spouses.
However, this does not mean that it is impossible for a family that is experiencing a divorce to have a good holiday season. As a WebMD article notes, there are steps you can take when going through a divorce to try to help keep the holiday season fun and enjoyable for your kids.
Planning ahead for the holidays
For one, there are various preparations you can make on this front. This includes planning:
- The scheduling of the holidays. Clear scheduling can help set clear expectations for you kids and reduce the potential for arguments between you and your ex-spouse. Scheduling related to who your children will spend the holidays with is one of the many issues that can be addressed in a child custody agreement.
- What holiday traditions to have. This includes planning what old holiday traditions to keep, and which will have to be phased out. It also includes planning new traditions. New traditions can provide new sources of holiday fun for the kids. Having your kids help with planning what will happen with traditions may help changes go more smoothly.
- Whether you and your ex will have a joint holiday gathering with your children or have separate ones. Among the things to consider when making this decision is how likely you and your ex would be to keep things amicable during the gathering. As this underscores, the potential for conflict with your ex can be an important thing to think about when it comes to a range of divorce-related topics regarding the kids.
- Your support network for the holidays. Keeping the holidays fun for your children can be a lot harder when you don’t take care of yourself. So, it can be important to think about who to turn to for support, both among your friends/family and from professional sources, if things start to get rough for you over the holidays.
When disputes come up duringthe holidays
Sometimes, despite planning efforts, ex-spouses get into fights over the holidays. If this happens to you, it can be important to think about what ways of handling the dispute would square best with your goals regarding your kids, including your goals for giving them a good holiday season.
When a divorcing parent is concerned that a dispute with his or her ex during the holidays could flare up into a legal battle that could impact the kids, he or she may want to discuss his or her options for handling the dispute with a family law attorney.
