Ex requesting vacation in school year

[Deputy Daddy]

As others have said, I don't know of your situation but your stance seems a little bit extreme. At 4 the child won't miss anything by being away from school for 12 days, but that length of time away from a parent may be hard on her (and you!). Someone else mentioned negotiating a shorter period and that may be a good compromise. Consider bringing this up before he gets the courts involved and maybe he will be flexible when you have a special request.

Again, everyone's situation is different, but I have an agreement that reads very similarly to yours but we treat it like a guideline, rather than a law. My ex and I follow it but regularly trade days depending on when we have an event we want the kids to experience with us. We've never discussed that change, it just kind of evolved and I couldn't see handling it any other way.

Specific agreements are great, but are very inflexible if the parties won't cooperate. If, for example, your ex has your daughter on Aug. 19, 2010, but your family decides to have a big reunion on that date then you won't get to introduce your daughter (like a proud mommy likes to do) to relatives, and she will spend that weekend watching TV alone with dad. Sad, isn't it?

In the end, nobody other than you and your ex can make a fuss if the agreement isn't followed to the letter. Nobody in the world will know that you traded Saturday for Wed. and Thurs. evenings, but you and your ex will have many opportunities to attend events with her that wouldn't have been possible had the agreement been followed.


Good luck with it.
DD.

[mominont]

My daughter missed about 10 days of JK last year while we took her to Florida. I don't think she was harmed by missing school, in fact I think we did much more educational stuff than she would have experienced in a class room.

I think you should allow the parent to take the child on the extended vacation who cares if its a sporting event - I'm sure they will take in other things.

Compromise is a key thing, and it won't be many years down the road you will want more that 7 days of vacation together. Lighten up!

Mominont

[standing on the sidelines]

What kind of sporting thing takes 12 days?? At her age and grade level missing that many days is not a big deal compared to if she was in a higher grade. I would ask for a shorter time if that would make you feel better. Like others have said flexibility is the key.