Planning for Parenting Time: Ohio's Guide for Parents Living Apart

Child Development and Suggested Parenting Schedules
6 TO 9 YEARS
Six- to nine-year-old children may worry that one parent does not love
them or that they will lose one parent. They may miss the absent parent
and feel sad, confused and angry about their parents’ divorce. They also
may try to get their parents back together.
Some six- to nine-year-old children benefit from spending more time at
one home, while others move back and forth on a regular basis with ease.
Children differ in how long they are comfortable being away from each
parent. Some may be comfortable being away from their primary
residential parent on a regular basis for two or more days. If the child has
spent considerable quality time with the parent who has parenting time,
the child may cope better with a long separation from the other parent.
As a child matures, longer periods of parenting time with fewer
exchanges between parents may be preferred.
In making a parenting time schedule, parents should keep their work
schedules in mind and try to use their time off from work to spend as
much time as possible with the child. If a parent’s work schedule
changes from week to week, the parenting schedule may let that parent
spend time with the child on the parent’s days off from work after giving
plenty of advance notice to the other parent.
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