Written by David Maillet
Any holiday can be difficult waters to navigate when sharing custody of your child or children, but that doesn’t mean it has to be impossible or even very stressful. A holiday as child centered as Halloween is a great time to come up with new ways of compromising so both parents feel they’ve walked away with something and, most importantly, the kids feel like they’ve had a terrific time.
Below are a few tried and true tips for making this Halloween flow smoothly for everyone involved.
Communication is Always Key
Maybe Halloween is more important of an event to one parent than the other, or perhaps one parent lives in a more child friendly neighbourhood. Maybe it’s really important to you both and how can that be made to work for your own individual situation?
Having an honest discussion about what you both feel would make the holiday as special as it can be for your child is always a great foundation to finding a solution.
Share the Night
In situations where dividing up the holidays may not be as simple, consider sharing the night! Perhaps one parent can come by a bit early and take the child around their own neighbourhood for an hour or two, and then the other parent takes the child around the neighbourhood that they live in afterwards. Not only does this work for both parents being able to see their kids go Trick or Treating, but it also can be exciting for the kids to be able to Trick or Treat in two different neighbourhoods…and have a stash of candy with each parent.
Dividing Up the Holidays
Having an honest conversation about which upcoming holidays hold significant importance to each parent can sometimes be a way to find a solution that was sitting right under your nose the whole time. Maybe one parent has just moved to new neighborhood, for example, and trick or treating with the kids holds a special significance this year to help make the new neighbourhood feel more like home, meanwhile the other parent was really hoping to have Thanksgiving with their new partner. This could be an easy trade off for the both of you.
For more solutions or if you have a matter you may need some advice on, contact Wells Family Law today.