Advice for Successful Co-Parenting at Christmas

Our Family Law team share their advice for successful co-parenting at Christmas

Christmas is always an important and emotive time for children and adults alike, and for separated parents it is often difficult to agree co-parenting arrangements for their children over the festive period.

Here, the Family Team share their top tips for successful co-parenting at Christmas:

• Try to plan and communicate with the other parent in advance regarding what will happen over the Christmas holidays.
• Do not ask your children to make the decision about which parent they will see when. This places too much pressure on them, and they will worry about “choosing” one parent over the other and upsetting them.
• Make sure that you tell your children in advance what the arrangements are so that there is no confusion, and they know where they will be and when.
• Try to make the arrangements fair. For example, many parents choose to alternate Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and some choose to share the main event, for example arranging for the children to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with one parent, and Christmas afternoon and Boxing Day with the other parent.
• Remember that your children are the priority and try to make arrangements that are in their best interests not yours, however difficult or upsetting that may be.

The key to successful co-parenting at Christmas really is communication and fairness.

For more information on co-parenting & family law, please visit our family law services page.

Should you need any assistance with regards to Child Arrangements in the New Year, please do not hesitate to contact the Family Team or phone us on 01273 249200.