Planning Ahead for Summer Parenting Schedules

Planning Ahead for Summer Parenting Schedules

Soon enough, summer will be upon us, and it’s a great time for families to carve out opportunities to spend more downtime together – outside the hustle and bustle of the busy school year. If you are in a co-parenting situation, it takes some extra effort to coordinate your schedules, but taking the time to do it ahead of time will allow you to make the most of the summer ahead. Discuss your questions and concerns regarding your summer parenting schedule with an experienced Minnesota child custody attorney today. 

Parenting Time

Your parenting time schedule is the court-ordered schedule that outlines when your children are with you and when they are with your ex. This schedule includes guidelines for how summer vacations will be addressed. Regardless of whether you and your children’s other parent devised your own schedule or received one of the court’s standard versions, it’s very likely that you’ll need to do some calendar coordinating as summer approaches. You both naturally want to squeeze in a vacation with the kids and embrace other forms of summer fun, and fortunately, there are some scheduling tips that can help.

Get Started by Gathering Dates and Information

A great way to tackle summer scheduling is by gathering all the dates and information regarding your and your ex’s summer plans, hopes, and dreams all in one central location. An app, such as Our Family Wizard, that allows each of you to enter dates and details into a shared calendar is a great option that affords you the opportunity to compile all the following information in one easily accessible space:

• Your children’s commitments, appointments, and activities
• Both of your schedules, commitments, and plans

Summer is a magnet for activities, so be sure to keep things like the following in mind:

• Summer camps
• Extracurriculars that are associated with school
• Your children’s part-time summer jobs
• Vacations
• Camping trips
• Family reunions
• Weddings
• Childcare schedules, which can change in the summer months

You’ll need to overlay this with your scheduled parenting time in order to finesse a schedule that accommodates everything – keeping in mind that compromises may be in order. 

Your Court-Ordered Parenting Plan

On top of everything else, you’re going to need to continue following your court-ordered parenting plan, which adds an additional layer of complication. Maintaining the schedule you keep during the school year – and tweaking for your children’s evolving care and transportation needs – while implementing mutually agreed-upon adjustments for planned activities is generally the best approach. This makes careful planning paramount, and a scheduling app that takes the stress out of communicating back and forth with your ex while keeping track of their comings and goings can prove invaluable.  

An Experienced Minnesota Child Custody Attorney Can Help

The practiced Minnesota child custody attorneys at Atticus Family Law recognize the challenges associated with balancing tight parenting time schedules through the summer months and have the legal skill and insight to help. For more information, please don’t put off contacting us today.