Try to stay away from schedules that are confusing or where the children are bouncing back and forth between two homes. When developing a visitation plan keep in mind several factors:

The child's social life The child's school schedule The child's extra curricular activities Possible schedule conflicts Vacation time Holidays The child's need set routines The best interest of the child

The most common type of visitation is for the non-custodial parent to have the children every other weekend from Friday night until Sunday night and also one night per week from 5:00 - 9:00 ("Dinner Time" visitation). Depending on the proximity of the non-custodial parent's home to the child's school, and the ability of the non-custodial to get the children to school, the weekday visitation could be an overnight visitation instead of just a "Dinner time" visitation.

Each parent should have vacation time with the children. Normal vacation time would be 2 weeks during the summer. If at all possible, the two weeks should not be consecutive. In some cases, each parent will have the children for one month each during the summer. One parent would have the children for the month of July, while the other parent would have them for the month of August.

The best way to determine which parent has the children on a particular holiday is to alternate the holiday every year. For example if the mother has the children for the Fourth of July the first year then the father would have them the second year. Some families have certain traditions for particular holidays. For instance, the husband's family might have a Christmas Eve tradition while the wife's family has a big family gathering on Christmas day. In a case like this you might want to consider not alternating these holidays but to let the children be with their mother on one holiday and the father on the other. If you have to work on a holiday that the children are to spend with you, then you should allow your (ex)spouse to have the children on that day without "trading" for another holiday.

Do not use pickup and drop-offs as an opportunity to continue or begin an argument with your (ex) spouse. If you do not get along with your (ex)spouse then remain in the car. Beep the horn and let the children come out to you. Do not go inside.

Custodial Parent - Make sure the children are ready before your (ex)spouse arrives to pick them up.

Non Custodial Parent - Be on time. If you are going to be late, call your (ex)spouse as soon as possible and let him/her know what time you will be arriving.