As a parent who is in communication with your ex-spouse and willing to work with them to make your custody schedule as easy to follow as possible, one time of year that is always frustrating is the summer. You know that it’s going to change your child’s needs, and you know that you may need to renegotiate your schedule with the other parent.
If they’re flexible and open to a new arrangement, that can make the situation easier, but if they like the schedule you currently use or aren’t willing to be flexible and to help you with your scheduling issues during the summer, you could have a hard time making summer vacation work with all your responsibilities.
You want to approach them about changing your custody schedule for the summer, but before you do, you want to make sure that it’s a reasonable request. So, is it really common to change custody in the summer?
Summer causes custody issues for many working parents
It’s typical for the months of summer vacation to cause problems for working parents. It’s particularly difficult for those who are on the same schedules, such as working the typical 9-to-5 role.
It’s normal for parents to have to sit down and work out new schedules for summer vacation, because the schedules that worked over the course of the school year may no longer work when their children are home full time.
Now is a good time to talk to your ex-spouse about any concerns you have about your child’s care in the summer months. Discuss options for babysitters, daycare or day camps. Talk about the days when your schedule may conflict with custody hours as well as days that you may have open to take custody of your child to allow the other parent time to work or take care of their own responsibilities.
Being transparent with your scheduling concerns now can help mitigate the risk of problems in the summer. Always be honest about your custody plan and if it’s working for you. If it doesn’t, you may want to look into a custody modification.
