Helpful Tips To Get Through The Holidays As A Divorced Parent

Before you know it, the 2021 holiday season will be here. If you are one of the 876,000 couples that will get a divorce this year, making it through the holiday season can be difficult. This difficulty will only increase if you and your former spouse have children together. As the holidays approach, the main goal you should have is to make things as enjoyable and normal for your children as possible.

The last thing you want is to let your resentment and hurt feelings get in the way of taking care of your children during this time of year. If you are a divorced parent trying to make it through the holidays, consider the helpful tips below.

Create a Co-Parenting Plan For The Holidays

During the holidays, most children have time off from school. There are also tons of music programs and awards ceremonies at the end of year that your children will be involved in. Instead of waiting until the last minute to plan when you will have your children and what events they need to attend during this time, you need to get organized well in advance.

Remaining civil and cordial with your ex-spouse during this planning process is important. By solely focusing on your children and their needs during the holidays, you can avoid getting into frivolous arguments with your ex-spouse. With a detailed plan, you can figure out important things like travel arrangements and how much time you will have with your children during this time of year.

Don’t Get Into a Gifting Competition

One of the biggest problems most divorced parents have during the holiday season is the desire to outdo each other. Buying your children lavish gifts as a way to “get back” at your ex-spouse is foolish. If you want to avoid this common problem, then you need to speak with your ex-spouse about the gifts your children want.

Taking the list of gifts and splitting them down the middle is a great way to avoid gifting competitions during the holidays. Most children value spending time with their parents more than lavish gifts. This is why you need to focus on making memories with your children instead of buying their love with expensive presents.

Establishing New Traditions

If this is the first holiday season your children are spending split between you and your ex-spouse, they will naturally be upset. Children are creatures of habit, which is why holiday traditions are so important to them. Instead of dwelling on the family traditions that were lost due to divorce, you need to focus on creating new traditions with your children.

Sitting down and talking to your children about the holiday traditions they want to start is a good idea. Making your children feel like their voices are being heard can help to create a healthier emotional environment during this transitional period.

While celebrating the holidays as a divorced parent will be difficult, you need to work on making it special for your children.