No two people — and especially no two children — are the same. Your child could be calm, physically energetic or emotionally excitable; it all depends on his or her unique temperament. These and other unique characteristics are a joy (and sometimes a challenge) to witness as a parent, and if you’re in the process of divorcing your soon-to-be ex-spouse, these characteristics could also affect your child custody and time-sharing arrangements.
Ages of children and parenting plans
The age of a child could affect the parenting plan significantly. When children are still babies and toddlers, it’s important for them to spend frequent time with both parents without long moments of time between those visits. However, nursing babies may not be able to spend long periods of time away from their mothers, and fathers could be limited to visiting with babies for several hours at a time. As children grow older into their pre-teen and teenage years, they can go longer stretches of times between visits.
Temperament of children and parenting plans
As for the temperament of the child, some children are relaxed and can go with an informal schedule that changes from time to time. Other children will have a hard time with every exchange, and parents might need to experiment with different time-sharing arrangements until they figure out what works.
Ultimately, when it comes to arranging parenting plans, the child’s best interest reigns supreme in the eyes of the law. Parents, therefore, need to find something that is fair and gives both parents time with the child, while also supporting the needs and best interests of the child.
