No Summer Plan Means Your Ex Wins. Every. Damn. Time.
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In this episode I'm breaking down the five worst examples of summer parenting plan language I've seen and let me tell you, some of this shit will make your jaw drop. We're talking attorneys getting paid good money to write sentences like "parents will cooperate regarding summer camps" and calling it a day. That's not a plan. That's a disaster waiting to happen with a legal header on it.
Your ex is already planning to ruin your summer. Is your parenting plan ready?
I'm not being dramatic. Summer break is the number one gap I see in parenting plans and it blows up every single year like clockwork. You think your ex will just go along with the summer camp plan. They won't. You think the school year schedule carries over. It doesn't. You think common sense will prevail. Oh honey, it absolutely will not.
In this episode I'm breaking down the five worst examples of summer parenting plan language I've seen and let me tell you, some of this shit will make your jaw drop. We're talking attorneys getting paid good money to write sentences like "parents will cooperate regarding summer camps" and calling it a day. That's not a plan. That's a disaster waiting to happen with a legal header on it.
Because here's the truth: high conflict people don't plan. They never did. And a parenting plan with no summer section is their favorite playground. Your kid could have been going to the same summer camp for seven years and the second you're divorced, suddenly your ex has a problem with it. No alternative. No suggestion. Just a hard no and zero accountability. That's what no structure gets you.
Summer camp spots fill up in January and February. Not June. Your ex doesn't know that because you were always the one handling it. So when you bring it up in March you look like the controlling one. You're not. You're the parent who actually has their shit together and there is a massive difference.
Stop letting a missing paragraph ruin your entire summer. Get it in writing. Get it in the plan. And stop letting Larry the lawyer convince you that common sense is enough, because it is absolutely not.
Here’s What You Can Actually Take Away:
- Summer Is Not Covered — Most parenting plans say nothing specific about summer, which means you're walking into a fight every single June.
- Vague Language Is Useless — Phrases like "parents will cooperate" and "summer will be shared" are not enforceable and mean absolutely nothing in a high conflict situation.
- Plan in Writing, Plan in Advance — Summer camp spots fill up months early, and your parenting plan should require summer planning to happen by a specific date every year.
- Details Save You Money — Every gap in your parenting plan is a future attorney fee waiting to happen. Get specific now so you're not paying for it later.
- Your Kids Deserve Consistency — Shuffling kids between two different camps or daycares because parents can't agree is not a logistical problem. It's a parenting failure that your plan should prevent.
High Conflict People Don't Plan — They rely on chaos, and a vague parenting plan gives them all the ammunition they need to blow up your summer. Take that power away from them with clear, specific language.
- "Your ex will disagree with everything you're talking about unless it's included in your parenting plan. Everything."
- "Parents will cooperate. Cool. Can you just go ahead and tell us what we're actually doing? Because we will never cooperate on our own."
- "High conflict people live for finding a detail that wasn't included. They turn it into a 65-text screaming match and it ends up costing you money with your attorney."
- "You are not being a controlling freak for bringing up summer camp in March. You're being a parent. There's a difference."
- "Your kid could have been going to the same summer camp for seven years but the second you're divorced, suddenly your ex has never liked that camp. Meanwhile they have zero alternative plan."
"Put summer in its own section of your parenting plan. Not as an afterthought. Not as a single sentence. Its own section with real details."