Child custody in the summer can get more complicated than it does during the school year. There is simply more stress on your time and you have the children at home for a few months, rather than in the classroom.
This can be taxing for co-parents, especially if they both work. However, the two things that can make this easier are flexibility and communication.
Adjusting your plans
The flexibility aspect begins with adjusting your custody schedule. You may need to change it to something different so that it fits with both of your work schedules.
But even beyond that initial adjustment, you want to remain flexible if different things come up during the week or people have different pressures on their time. Maybe a child starts a summer sport and suddenly your ex wants to make sure they can have custody on a different day to go to practice or games. Things happen, you can’t always predict them, and a flexible attitude will make this less stressful for all involved – especially your child.
In the same vein, it’s always important for you and your ex to communicate about these schedule changes, the things that you need as a parent and any other issues that you have. You can’t count on that weekly schedule always being the same way that it is during the school year. But being able to talk to each other about this process will make things go smoothly.
Rights and obligations
Throughout this entire time, you also want to make sure that you understand your legal rights and any obligations that you may have under your current parenting agreement.