With the holidays season starting, I know all too well how the merry season sometimes can be one of the hardest times of the year for single moms.
I have been a single mom for over 5 years now during which I’ve experienced sharing the Holidays with my ex. I understand how tough being far away from your children during Christmas.
This year I got to spend the holidays with my son, but I realized all too well that since my ex has moved to another country, next holidays season will be different. There will be new territories in our co-parenting strategies that we have to work on. I will miss my son deeply next Christmas and New Year when he fly over to Cambodia to spend his holidays with his Dad.
Fortunately, we are now in a great place where we are co-parenting together also involving our own partners. Him and his new wife and me and my fiancé. We are in this together for the sake of our son.
Co-parenting in Holidays Season
The ladies over at VProud TV has put up this amazing really useful video to help us, single moms, navigate the holidays season without losing our minds. Do check it out! Click here for the video or click the picture below. I am thankful that Karen Cahn, Mandy Dawson, Andrea Gribble and Shannan Younger are sharing their own personal tips on the video.
From my own experience, here are 3 things I learned about co-parenting through the holidays:
- Be flexible – be very flexible!
Sometimes your children will want an extra day or two at their father’s house because they are having a blast. Let them! Allow the father to deal with sugar rush induced kid(s). Hah!
- Communicate Openly
Our ex is not a mind reader! Communicate openly about everything related to your children and like the video said, remember you are the grown-ups. Put the ego aside and focus on your child’s needs and happiness.
- Make New Traditions
Come up with a new holidays traditions for you and your children to do together and it doesn’t have to be on the exact day like Christmas or New Year. It can be any day, the point is by creating something memorable that you and children can look forward to having will make the time apart more bearable. I have stopped buying my son Christmas presents and you can read more why on my last year’s post.
Are you co-parenting? Do you have any more sanity saving tips to share? Please leave your comment, I’d love to hear your experiences.
Coparenting is really hard. I know when my kids are with their dads I always feel awful even though I know its important to spend time with their dad as well.
I’ve never had to co-parent, so I can’t imagine all the issues that go along with co-parenting. I do have friends that are single parents and I do know that it helps to be flexible and to communicate opening and honestly.
These are great tips to learning how to co-parents effectively and successfully. It must be hard, but keeping a good line of communication must be essential.
Good advice to help others deal with co-parenting during the holidays. It’s great that you, your ex and significant others are working together to provide the best for your son.
I can’t imagine how hard this is! My in-laws live abroad so I don’t even have to worry about splitting my time with them over the holidays. I can’t imagine having to do it with my children!
This is a good suggestion. The single parents are really hard.DarlingDressau.com