Child custody around the holidays is difficult. With Halloween coming up soon, now is the time to determine what’s going to happen for all the fall and winter ones. If you have a parenting time schedule set already, this information is likely in there so you can review it to see when your children will be with you. If you don’t have one set, you should start the discussions with your ex as soon as possible.
It is difficult for some parents to come to the realization that they won’t spend every holiday with the kids. The only way that you could see them on each one is if you use a method for splitting the actual days so they spend half the day with each parent, but that might cause stress on the kids and is only appropriate if you and your ex live close to each other.
A more common way of splitting up holidays is to alternate years. They would be with you one Thanksgiving and your ex the next. You could do each one like that. On the years the kids are with you for Thanksgiving, your ex has them for Christmas.
Another option is that you can set your custody schedule by when each family celebrates the day. For example, if your family has a big Christmas Eve celebration and your ex’s family does theirs on Christmas Day, you could set the custody schedule up so they can enjoy both.
As difficult as it is to think about what you’ll miss with having to share holidays, you should still focus on what’s best for the kids. Their needs must be a priority, and it is almost always best for them to have memories with both sides of their family.