St. Stephen's Day for Divorced Families | Schedule Ideas

St. Stephen's Day is a public holiday on the 26th of December (the day after Christmas) in many countries. In Ireland, it's sometimes called the Day of the Wren.

The day honors St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Schools and many businesses close.

Divorced and separated parents sometimes forget St. Stephen's Day when they decide how to share parenting time over the winter holiday season. But since the day often has a family focus, it can be important to address in your custody and access schedule.

Ways to share parenting on St. Stephen's Day

You can handle custody and access on St. Stephen's Day however you agree with your co-parent. Find ideas below. Many Irish parents try to split time with their child evenly over the Christmas school holidays.

To solidify the plans you agree on, put them in a parenting plan you both sign. To go even further and make your agreement legally enforceable, have a judge turn your parenting plan into a rule of court.

If you can't agree on how to handle St. Stephen's Day or other occasions, you can ask a court to decide. Bring a convincing proposal.

Split the long holiday

It's often helpful to think of Christmas Eve through St. Stephen's Day as one holiday block. Then you can give one parent the first half and the other parent the second half. Try to choose a handover time on Christmas Day that won't interrupt either parent's celebrations.

You can alternate who gets the first stretch of time each year.

Alternate yearly

Another option is to think of St. Stephen's Day as a standalone holiday. In this case, parents usually alternate who has the child each year.

Specify when the holiday visit will start and end. For instance, you might pick up your child the night before St. Stephen's Day or the morning of.

Give it to the same parent every year

If St. Stephen's Day has special significance to one of you, you might decide they can have custody that day every year.

The other parent might get parenting time on a different holiday in exchange, but nothing says holiday parenting time has to remain even (unless your court order does, in fact, say this).

Ignore it

If neither of you consider St. Stephen's Day particularly important, you don't need to address it in your parenting schedule at all. Then you would just follow your usual schedule — or your Christmas school holiday schedule if you have one.

The easiest way to make a custody schedule for special occasions

There's a lot to think about when you build a holiday schedule. You'll want it to address weekend and midweek holidays, reflect occasions unique to your family (like birthdays) and work for years to come.

The Custody X Change app makes it easy. Just open your Custody X Change calendar and follow our steps to make a holiday schedule.

To make a custody and access schedule quickly and affordably, turn to Custody X Change. In no time, you'll have written and visual versions that include the holidays and occasions you care about.