With summer in full swing in Indiana, divorced parents will want to rearrange their schedules. Creating a summer child custody schedule may sound challenging, but it’s second nature once you and your former spouse know each other’s plans for the season. You’ll also want to factor in your child’s changed schedule; here are some ideas to help.
Discuss your personal schedules
A big part of sharing child custody means checking in with your former spouse about one another’s schedules. This should account not only for vacation time during the summer but also for personal plans. Good communication can eliminate confusion and unpleasant surprises when a parent has their co-parenting time.
Choose a time frame
You’ll want to discuss a starting and end point for the time frame when your summer child custody schedule takes place. This should include a date and time you can agree with and keep as your regular summer schedule. You can even set this time frame to recur every year if it works well.
Be flexible
Even when you decide on a summer custody schedule, things can happen due to life’s uncertainties. As a result, it’s crucial to be flexible. If something unexpected comes up at the last second, you and your spouse can make some quick changes to accommodate the other’s parenting time.
Involve your child
Depending on your child’s age and maturity level, you might want to involve them in the summer custody schedule. Get their input to see what they prefer. For example, they might have a specific extracurricular activity they normally engage in while at one parent’s home versus the other’s.
Planning your summer custody schedule doesn’t have to be difficult. Once you find something agreeable, put it in writing.