With all the festivities of the holidays rapidly descending upon us the to-do list keeps getting longer and longer: gifts to buy, relatives to see, food to make, and homes to decorate.

For divorced families figuring out how to handle child custody around the holidays can also be a strain.  While child custody issues are never enjoyable, they can become even worse when the holidays are in full swing.

Here are some common resolutions that can be beneficial to both parents and the children.

• Fixed Holidays-
  Divide up the holidays in whatever way you seem fit and then stick that schedule every year. This is a great option if one parent has one holiday they go all out for every year. For example if the father throws a Clark Griswold style Christmas every year, while the mother is more of a Thanks giving women, this option allows each parent to celebrate their favorite holidays with their children year after year.

•  Split the Day-
  If both families live close to each other it may be possible for the children to spend half the day with each parent. This would let the kids spend Christmas morning with dad and have Christmas dinner with mom. This requires careful planning so the kids don’t spend all day traveling.

• Double Down-
  If both parents want to celebrate every holiday with their kids you can always celebrate the holiday twice. For instance, mom can observe Thanksgiving on Wednesday and dad can do Thanksgiving on Thursday.

• Rotate-
  This is a very common plan. Set up a rotation schedule where the kids go to dad’s for Christmas and mom’s for Thanksgiving one year and then vice versa the next year.

Whatever strategy you go with it’s important to keep the children’s wishes in mind. Despite careful planning, child custody disputes are common around the holidays Recommended Reading. If you are in need of a child custody lawyer call the lawyers at Baysinger Henson Reimer & Cresswell PLLC “Owasso & Tulsa Child Custody Lawyers”.