The Christmas and New Year season is almost upon us and many divorced dads are wondering how best keep to their kids happy without them feeling unhappily dragged from one parent to the other.

When the parents maintain a friendly, or at least professional, relationship it is easier to decide a good course of action mutually but when the opposite is true, everyone suffers, especially the children.

In a mature relationship, both parents would probably plan together what to do during the holiday season. For example, they would mutually agree to one parent having their kids full time at Christmas and the other full time at New Year.

This way, the children can look forward to receiving the undivided attention of both mom and dad over a defined period of time. Having the children over for lunch at mom’s and then rushing off to dad’s for an early dinner would subject them to a stressful feeling of being pulled apart at the seams. This kind of planning ahead lets everyone, especially the children, know what’s coming and that it is in fact, something to look forward to.

On the other hand, a bad or immature relationship between divorced parents might involve, at the least, hasty decisions taken at the last minute when no one knows what to do or where to go until the last moment. Some parents even rush off for lunch at mom’s and dinner at pop’s resulting only in stress, and the lack of a more prolonged quality time for the children.

Planning is the secret for a divorced dad. Plan ahead, even the whole year, and everyone involved will be much happier. In fact, this may even end up as a happy family tradition.