Family First
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School-time scheduling can be tricky for single parents

On Behalf of | Aug 18, 2021 | Child Custody

One of the harder things to set up is your child’s custody schedule. You know they deserve time with you and with their other parent, but with school classes, extracurricular activities and other responsibilities, it can be hard to make a set schedule work.

You and your ex may have had a schedule that worked for you last year that won’t work this year. The schedule might work for the first few months of school but not work during the second half of the year. It’s tricky, but it is necessary to determine a schedule that you can stick to.

Custody scheduling can be day-by-day when necessary

One thing to remember is that your custody arrangements can be set up day-by-day in your schedule. You can go through your child’s school calendar and mark which days they’ll need to be with you or your ex. You can also mark off holidays and days when you or your ex will be off work to set up custody on those dates.

Once you do those things, you’ll be able to look at the remaining days where you haven’t decided on custody and begin to put together a plan. On “normal” days, will your child stay with you or their other parent? If they have a sudden activity after school, will that change where they go at night? Where should your child go if they’re sick, and is there flexibility in your schedule to help with emergencies?

For many single parents, setting up a co-parenting plan that is flexible during the school year is important. Managing work responsibilities at the same time as being sure your child gets to school and is always picked up from activities on time can be tough. IT is possible to come up with solutions, though.

Sit down and go through the school year day by day if you need to, so that you and your ex can agree on when a babysitter or other party needs to be involved to take care of your child. By looking for all variances in your schedule in advance, you’ll be more prepared for every change the school year may throw at you.