In the state of Michigan, the typical parenting time schedule has the children of divorced parents spending Halloween with the father in even numbered years and the mother in odd-numbered years. In same-sex marriages, the plaintiff follows the mother’s schedule and the defendant follows the father’s schedule for parenting time during holidays and breaks. This might seem simple enough – but does this kind of arrangement satisfy your child, or you? There are always alternatives to satisfy everyone in your family.
Make Parenting Time Work on Halloween
Divorced parents will always find themselves up against one-day holidays that make it difficult to be separated from their kids – the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, the child’s birthday, just to name a few. Exes who are amicable or at least attempt to get along for the sake of their kids may try creative parenting time on Halloween rather than settling for the privilege of having the kids on October 31 every other year. After all, there are only so many Halloweens when your kids are little enough to want to dress up, hold your hand, or be seen with you before they ditch you for their friends.
Here are just some suggestions that can work for divorced parents on Halloween:
- Trick-or-Treat together: This option may be ideal for parents with particularly young children for whom Halloween is all about the experience. Plus, your little ones are very distracted by candy and costumes so if there is residual tension between the parents, it’s a little easier to hide it from your kids’ radar. If this experiment works, you build happy memories for your minor child and show them that their family is still their family, even if both parents don’t live together anymore.
- Split Trick–or-Treating: What’s better than one Halloween? Two Halloweens! Exes who simply cannot be in each other’s orbit can split the time on Halloween as equally as possible. There are many ways to do this. Maybe one parent goes to the child’s school Halloween party and the other parent tackles Halloween night. Or maybe you visit one neighborhood early in the evening for trick-or-treating and the other parent takes the child later in the night. There are plenty of ways to split up the holiday fun if you live in a place where parades, parties, and trick-or-treating abound.
- Coordinate costumes: Nothing says unity like the family that dresses up together. Darth Vader and Princess Leia can take their little Yoda around and present a united front but you don’t really have to exchange a word. Posing for photos will require all of you, but surely that’s manageable for the sake of your kid for one evening. Even more fun – have your child pick the theme and work together to work it out. You never know, Halloween could be the holiday that brings you together, at least for a few hours.
A Michigan Divorce on Halloween
If there is no chance that you and your ex can work together to make Halloween a family event, it’s okay. You’re certainly not alone and plenty of other exes have figured out how to give their kids a great holiday even if their family unit is no longer whole.
If you have questions about child custody and parenting time and getting a Michigan divorce, contact the Michigan divorce lawyers at Michigan Divorce Help and schedule a complimentary consultation.