After a divorce, you may find yourself with limited custody or time-sharing. You might feel like you need to put your entire life on hold when you have the kids. While it can be tempting to spoil your children with expensive activities or fancy gifts, doing so is not in their best interests. You do not need to spend a lot of money in order to make your time with your kids well spent. The family law attorneys at Brandon Legal Group provide some tips to make your limited custody time count.
Tips to Engage your Children when you have Limited Custody
1. One of the best ways to make the most of your time with your children is to unplug. Limit their time (and yours) with electronics.
2. Ask your children fun questions that differ from the usual, “How was school?” Instead ask, “If you were President for a day, what would you do?”
4. Turn dinner into an event. Make homemade pizzas together or have a build-your-own taco night. You could even set up an ice cream sundae station for dessert.
5. Use your time together to do activities that engage your children’s interests. This could be taking classes together or letting your child teach you something. If you are not sure what your children are interested in, ask them.
6. Help your children with their homework or do your own “homework” next to them as they work.
7. Sometimes you may have to take your kids along for errands. Do your best to make it fun by including them. You can also teach your children how to do handy tasks around the house with you.
8. If you usually exercise, have your kids join you. There are many ways to get active with your children like hiking, indoor rock climbing, or going to an indoor trampoline place. You can also bike with them in the bike seat. If you like workout videos or classes, the kids can easily join you.
9. When you have limited custody, it can be even more important to attend your child’s sporting events, recitals, or competitions. Although you do not need to go to every event, showing up tells your children that you care.
10. If possible try to have a set time to call your children while they are with your ex. Make sure that this routine will not upset your ex and cause a fight.
The most important thing to remember is that it is not about how much time you have or how much money you spend; what matters is the quality of your time together.
