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How to Acknowledge ALL the Moms In Your Kid’s Life A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO MOTHER’S DAY
May 2019
Mother’s Day is meant to symbolize a joyous moment shared between children and their mom, but for about 45 percent of those who have gone through a divorce, this holiday can bring about a lot of sore feelings. Blended families typically have parental relationships of all types. With adoptive moms, stepmoms, birth moms, grandmas, and traditional moms all playing a role in a child’s life, the confines of a prototypical Mother’s Day celebration can often leave someone feeling left out. There are ways to navigate these complexities without hurting feelings. Here’s some advice for those in various parental roles to ensure that mothers of all types can feel appreciated this month. TO SINGLE MOMS: Mother’s Day can be difficult following a divorce. When you’re married, your husband is typically in charge of helping the kids make a nice breakfast or taking them to buy gifts. Over the years, it’s easy to get used to those traditions. But then, when the first Mother’s Day after your divorce rolls around, you’ll have to start your own traditions. If your kids are with you, celebrate your relationship with them by spending time with them. Find a fun local activity you can do together. If you’re not able to spend time with them on Mother’s Day, be sure you still make plans to do something that helps you take care of yourself. TO DIVORCED DADS AND STEPMOMS: Dads, no matter what your relationship with your children’s mom is, it’s important that you do all you can to help foster your kids’ relationship with her. You can take them shopping to pick out a gift or help them schedule a reservation for brunch. Additionally, we encourage dads
to tread lightly if they have remarried. The roles of mother and stepmother are difficult for both parties. The best way to acknowledge both of these women for the amazing work they put into helping shape your children is to acknowledge your former wife on Mother’s Day and then acknowledge your wife on Stepmother’s Day, which takes place the following Sunday each year. This way, you’re able to show appreciation to your kids’ stepmom without hurting your ex’s feelings. Being a stepparent is every bit as difficult as being a birth parent. It’s wonderful that there is a day dedicated to celebrating that journey.
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“With adoptive moms, stepmoms, birth moms, grandmas, and traditional moms all playing a role in a child’s life, the confines of a prototypical Mother’s Day
celebration can often leave someone feeling left out.”
BIRTH MOTHER’S DAY: The role of a birth mother who has given up a child for adoption might be the most painful to have to experience every May. Fortunately, there is a day dedicated to women in this position: Birth Mother’s Day, which takes place the Saturday before Mother’s Day each year. It can be celebrated in various ways depending on an adopted child’s relationship with his or her mom. In any case, it’s an important day to acknowledge, and even informing others that it exists can provide some solace for birth moms. While Mother’s Day can be somewhat tricky for divorced or blended families, it doesn’t have to be. Keep the other important holidays this month in mind and help your kids celebrate the women who sacrifice so much.
From all of us here at Atlanta Divorce Law Group, Happy Mother’s Day!
–Sara Khaki
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4 Tips to Keep Your Child Safe PROM SAFETY
DRIVING
Seeing gorgeous dresses, fancy suits, corsages, and boutonnieres pop up in advertisements can only mean one thing: Prom season is here! This time of year, teens are busy choosing the perfect dress or suit to wear, finding a date, making dinner reservations, and preparing for an evening of fun and dance. During this exciting time, give your teens a little encouragement and guidance to ensure they have a safe and memorable evening.
You and your teen should also have a plan about the modes of transportation, who’s driving, and how many people your teen is going with. Trusting the driver is important. If you’re hesitant about letting your child be driven to prom, find another way. If your teen is driving the family car, confirm that they will be the only person driving the vehicle. Make sure your teen is dressed comfortably and appropriately to ensure they have a fun night without any accidents. Encourage them to wear comfortable shoes that they can walk and dance in without pain. High heels are fashionable, but they shouldn’t wear heels so high that they may fall and hurt themselves. Whatever your teen decides to wear should be comfortable and hemmed to the appropriate length based on their height. By keeping these safety measures in mind, your teen will have a wonderful and safe evening! DRESS SAFETY
CREATE A PLAN
Create a plan for prom night, and make sure everyone knows what it is. Your teen should know and communicate with you what time the dance starts, what time it ends, if they’re going anywhere after, and when they’ll be coming home.
PHONES
Make sure your teen’s phone is completely charged in case they need to reach out to you sometime during the night. Encourage your teen to check in once every few hours, and establish an emergency code to use if they find themselves in trouble.
4 FUN, LOCAL WAYS TO CELEBRATE MOTHER’S DAY IN ATLANTA!
PAWFEST 2019 May 11, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. FREE Event!
With Mother’s Day coming up this month, you might be brainstorming to find original ways to celebrate the moms in your life. Fortunately, our great city is chock-full of events that can help you make this Mother’s Day one to remember.
While it’s a short drive to Lawrenceville, Gwinnett Humane Society’s PAWfest 2019 is a perfect event for moms who love their pups! There will be a parade, doggy contests, a silent auction, and sweet pups available for adoption. For more information, go to GwinnettHumane. Wixsite.com/Pawfest.
GARDENS FOR CONNOISSEURS TOUR May 11–12, 10 a.m. To Purchase Tickets: AtlantaBG.org
Hosted by the Atlanta Botanical Garden, this tour showcases the city’s most breathtaking gardens. If your mom is a gardening enthusiast, then she’ll likely love experiencing the ingenuity of architects who created these lovely landscapes.
CHASTAIN PARK ARTS FESTIVAL May 11–12, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. FREE Event!
LA FÊTE DU ROSÉ: ROSÉ & MUSIC FESTIVAL May 11, All Day Event for Attendees 21+ To Purchase Tickets: LaFeteDuRose.com/Atlanta
The Chastain Park Arts Festival will host its ninth annual event where visitors can enjoy fine arts and crafts, local beverage concessions, and gourmet food trucks. There will be several local acoustic musicians, as well as a fun-filled children’s corner.
La Fête du Rosé provides a wonderful time to get together and celebrate all things vin rosé. Attendees adorned in their finest pink-and-white attire will indulge in wine, champagne, and frosé and rosé cocktails while enjoying DJs and live music. Souvenirs are determined by the package you purchase, but if your mom is a fan of rosé or bubbly, this event is for her!
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FAMILY HOLIDAYS AND CUSTODY ARRANGEMENTS Planning for Summer Vacation Starts in the Spring
Being a parent might be the most rewarding job in the world, but it is simultaneously the most stressful. Raising a child means you are constantly making difficult decisions. Whether those decisions are seemingly small (like which type of vegetable to sneak into your kids’ dinner) or undeniably draining (like which school you should enroll them in), being a parent makes planning ahead that much more important. If you are navigating the complexity of a custody arrangement, you know how much preparation goes into drafting a plan that works well for you, your ex-spouse, and most importantly, your children. Developing a visitation schedule with your soon-to-be-ex is often one of the most difficult aspects of a divorce. No parent wants to give up time with their children, especially during significant occasions like summer break. Summer vacations will always be a major factor in any visitation schedule or custody arrangement. Regardless of whether or not you’re the custodial parent, you should set aside some time before summer break begins to review your Atlanta Small Business Network Featured ADLG On Their Show!
parenting plan. If you are hoping to take your child on a summer vacation that would require a change in your custody agreement, you’ll need to start the preparatory process early. Talk to your ex-spouse to make sure you are both on the same page regarding which weeks the children will spend with which parent, and make sure you’re taking the legal route so you don’t have any cause for contention. While each situation will be different depending on your parenting plan, you’ll need time to converse with your ex-spouse and your attorney to plan the vacation that will work best for all involved parties. If you are considering taking your kids on a summer vacation in 2019, let us help you plan to make it the best trip yet.
HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT OUR Concierge Partners?
Our dedication doesn’t end when a client’s legal matter is complete. We will be there for you as you begin your new life. For this reason, we’ve compiled a list of true partners we have built relationships with whom we trust to provide our clients with great services at fair prices.
The concierge partner we’d like to introduce this month is John Gilmore, a mortgage loan consultant
at SunTrust Mortgage. In his experience in the real estate sector, John understands that one of the most contentious aspects of divorce involves the family home. He explains: “Whether you have decided to sell the home and move on, or refinance to pay out the equity to your former spouse, you need to know the value, and that’s where the appraisal comes in!”
Just last month, our valiant leader, Sara Khaki, was interviewed by TV show host Ted Jenkins to explain to viewers our firm’s vision of Happily Ever After Divorce™. You can catch the whole interview at Myasbc.com/small-business-shows/.
John will delve into this topic in much more detail in next month’s newsletter. Keep an eye out for his article!
If you’re looking for any kind of real estate advice, John is your guy. You can reach out to him at John.Gilmore@SunTrust.com!
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Inside This Issue
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A Different Approach to Mother’s Day
Prom Safety Tips
4 Fun Local Ways to Celebrate Mother’s Day in Atlanta!
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Planning for Summer Vacation Starts in the Spring
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Atlanta Small Business Network Featured ADLG On Their Show!
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ADLG’s ‘Big Little Lies’ Series: Blog 1 Recap
ADLG’s ‘Big Little Lies’ Series: Season 1, Episode 1 Recap Family Law Theme: Custody and Blended Families
In preparation for the new season of “Big Little Lies,” which will be released on June 9, the team at Atlanta Divorce Law Group is launching a new blog series to extrapolate numerous family themes addressed in season one. Below is a condensed recap of the first blog. In the pilot episode, titled “Somebody’s Dead,” viewers are introduced to various characters, all of whom seem to be dealing with their own versions of familial conflict. But the ones who are constantly navigating our first blog’s theme of Custody and Blended Families are Madeline Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon), the strong-willed mother of two (first grader, Chloe, and teenager, Abigail), her husband, Ed (Adam Scott), and Bonnie Carlson
(Zoe Kravitz), a fitness instructor and mother to first grader, Skye. Bonnie is married to Madeline’s ex-husband, Nathan (James Tupper). To say their situation is complicated is an understatement. Madeline has teenage daughter, Abigail, from her first marriage to Nathan; she has younger daughter, Chloe, from her current marriage to Ed. Madeline shares custody of Abigail with Nathan; Nathan is now married to Bonnie, and their daughter, Skye, is in the same class as Chloe. Madeline and Nathan do not have a friendly or healthy relationship; however, it appears that they push these issues temporarily aside when it comes to co-parenting Abigail. Madeline does not like Bonnie; however, the women are often forced to interact because their children are classmates. At Atlanta Divorce Law Group, many of our clients express concerns related to divorce, blended families, custody, and co-parenting. As you go through a divorce, you may experience feelings of anger, betrayal, or loss. It can be difficult to keep your own emotions from spilling over into decisions that involve your ex-spouse. It is also extremely common for parents to feel guilt over the divorce and let rules at home slide. But, as you make decisions regarding custody and shared time, it is your duty as a parent to process the difference between what is best for you and what is best for your children. You cannot control what happens in the other parent’s home; you can only control what happens in your own. To read about the family law themes present in the show’s pilot or to see some foreshadowing observations present in “Somebody’s Dead,” be sure to go to AtlantaDivorceLawGroup.com/Blog .
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