Question about birthday and unrelated exchange q's

[MommaMouse]

My LO birthday is on the Friday of our exchange, I get her from 3-6 then her Dad takes her for the weekend. I want to give her the birthday gifts a few days early so that she doesn't get a bunch of gifts and then have to leave for her Dad's. How do others deal with birhtday weekends like this?

Unrelated but my 6 year old doesn't want to go to Dad's, on our last exchange she ran around the inside of the van for 10 minutes before I caught her, when I handed her over she kicked and fought her Dad. Today he had to pull her off the bus kicking and screaming and this upset both the bus driver and all the kids on the bus. How can I ease her into her visits? (At my house my daughter has never even had a temper tantrum let alone thrown fists at me)

[HappyMomma]

Unrelated but my 6 year old doesn't want to go to Dad's, on our last exchange she ran around the inside of the van for 10 minutes before I caught her, when I handed her over she kicked and fought her Dad. Today he had to pull her off the bus kicking and screaming and this upset both the bus driver and all the kids on the bus. How can I ease her into her visits? (At my house my daughter has never even had a temper tantrum let alone thrown fists at me)

How long have you been separated? It could just be that your daughter needs to get used to the change in routine. Make sure you are supportive of her time with her dad. I have a 50/50 arrangement. In the beginning the girls would complain when going either way - eventually we lengthened the amount of time they spent with each parent (to a week) and now it's much better. If you have a shared arrangement perhaps you could try that.