Avoiding the Summer Blues

Payless Divorce – Summer is officially here which means most children are out of school at this point. It’s time to start taking them to summer camps, overnight camps, sleepovers, and summer sport practices. Whether you’re recently divorced or have been divorced for quite some time, the summer can become hectic with who has who, summer schedules, and vacations. These can all cause the summer blues for those who are divorced.

Some thoughts that might start running through your head are:

• My ex-spouse will try to destroy our summer vacation plans by making theirs overlap with mine.
• Having all of the kids at once, while they’re off doing whatever.
• Am I paying for all of my children’s activities? Are they paying at all?

Being divorced can bring a lot of confusion and miscommunication, so be prepared to coordinate your schedules, vacations, and everything else. As these thoughts and questions pop into your head, here are some tips to help avoid the summer blues.

1. Make It Clear- Divorce causes a lot of confusion areas such as who has who at what time of the summer and who is paying for what activity. Whether you decide to sit down with your ex and discuss the entire summer along with the details such as pickup times, drop off times, written permissions for summer programs, etc. it will make the summer run more smoothly.
2. Don’t Be The Controller- Setting yourself as the ultimate organizer for summer fun can bring about frustration. Being the only person to plan and organize the beach or shore trip will only put more stress on you because you will not only have to get approval for everyone, but you will have to collect money from them too. A simple way to split it up is by assigning certain people planning duties.
3. Take Me Time- Although you love your kids dearly, you need to take time for yourself. Consider taking a mini vacation with friends or sit down in a quiet space to recollect your thoughts. The trick to this is finding the right babysitter to come to the rescue!
4. Communication is Key- This might sound redundant because divorce causes communication issues for various reasons.
   1. Not using social media to get your anger out or communicate with one another.
   2. Be honest and up front with one another.
   3. Be considerate when you’re exchanging the children and at a respectful time during the day.

The summer time is meant for pool splashing, beach vacations, and having fun. Take these tips in consideration so you don’t experience the summer blues.

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