Thanksgiving without your kids?

Because both Dr. Leah and I have sole custody of our kids, our Thanksgiving Day celebrations have always included our kids.
For those of you who have shared custody — with alternating holidays — however, this day might find you without your kids.
So, we’ve been wondering lately: what if we were NOT able to celebrate Thanksgiving [...]

Single dad wonders about Thanksgiving drama. Help!

A single dad wrote to us wondering about planning for Thanksgiving. Maybe you can help him out here?
“My ex and I alternate holidays,” he explains. “Our parenting time schedule for Thanksgiving begins on Thanksgiving Day at noon.
“Last year, I had a wonderful day planned with my brother’s family. But when I picked up the boys [...]

If your kids are stressed at parenting time

Although there are different legal ways to describe child custody, nearly all custody arrangements include “parenting time” or “visitation”.
In short, this means the set schedule between the parent with residential custody and the parent (or former partner) who does not. Of course, some parents have a 50/50 custody split. For those of us who are [...]

When your ex is the “fun dad”

“Not Fun Mom” recently wrote to us:
“I split up with my ex shortly after our daughter turned two.  Our arrangement for the last year has been shared custody — one week at my house, then one week at Dad’s house.
Everything with “Dad” is fun and games. He is self-employed with extremely flexible hours so [...]