Don’t wait until school holidays are here to work out parenting arrangements, family dispute experts are urging parents to plan child arrangements well ahead of Christmas.
As Christmas lights and decorations spring up within our homes, worries about where children will spend Christmas season are forefront in the minds of many separated parents.
Andaleeb Khandaker, partner in the Family Law team at Collins & Hoy, is hugely experienced when it comes to agreeing Christmas arrangements for her clients’ children:
“The Christmas holiday brings a huge change of routine, parenting arrangements that work well for the rest of the year can prove inadequate when the schools break up in December. Even those with well-established routines can find it a struggle to work out which parent the child will spend time with on which days.”
Andaleeb adds the festive period can create other complications too:
Child arrangements at Christmas can be a stressful time for many separated families, however family mediation can sometimes help.
As accredited family mediators we are often asked for help by separated parents who cannot agree between themselves what will work best for the children during the school break. The time they will spend with each parent during this period can be tricky to agree and, as we head into December, the stress levels rise.
We can help separated parents work out a plan that fits their unique family circumstances, and our advice is to get in touch soon … please do not leave it until the last minute and plan your child arrangements well ahead of Christmas. Making the arrangements in good time will give certainty to both parents, bringing you peace of mind. And it means the children know what is coming in the weeks ahead, giving them the best chance of having a happy Christmas break.
If you’d like to find out more how you can use the family mediation services offered by Collins & Hoy to help you make arrangements for your children over Christmas please call us on 020 8866 1820.