Tips for Summer Visitation for Divorced Parents

During the summer months, your children likely do not have nearly as much routine in their schedules as they do between the months of September and May. As such, you might find it necessary to adjust your custody and visitation schedules so that you can accommodate your children’s needs and your own work schedule.

Below are a few tips for summer visitation for divorced parents:

• Prepare yourself for longer visitations: If you are the custodial parent, prepare yourself for your child to have longer visitation times with the other parent. This is a normal arrangement for divorced parents — your child might go on a vacation with your former partner, for example. Make sure you know where your child will be and how to contact him or her. Get an itinerary for the vacation and be sure the other parent knows your child’s capabilities for activities such as hiking, swimming and biking.
• Keep in touch: When your child does go away for longer visitations during the summer, stay in touch. If he or she has a cell phone, you can call a few times per week to check in and make sure everything is going well. Unless you feel your child is in danger, don’t try to stay constantly connected to your child. Doing so could cause unnecessary conflict with your child and/or the other parent.
• Prepare your child: Depending on your child’s age and how long you have been divorced, he or she might not have spent more than a couple days away from you before. For these longer summer visitations, be sure your child understands he or she will be with their other parent, and that you two will be together again soon. Do not say anything about the separation being difficult for you — focus instead on preparing your child to have fun.

For more tips and guidance on child custody and creating a parenting time arrangement that works well for your family, consult a skilled Long Island family law attorney with Bryan L. Salamone & Associates.