What sort of visitation is usually awarded for child custody cases in Texas?

Texas law presumes that a standard visitation schedule will be followed in most cases for children age 3 and over. A judge can deviate from the standard schedule with good cause, and special allowances can be made for religious holidays.

Of course, parents can agree on custody arrangements that differ from the standard visitation schedule, and judges will almost always go along with their agreement.

Regardless of the visitation schedule written into the divorce decree, divorced parents can always agree to follow any workable schedule of visitation they feel is best for their child. Possession orders are made by judges to provide a definite visitation schedule in case parents cannot agree.

Standard Possession Order

The Texas Family Code provides a standard possession order for parents who live within 100 or over 100 miles of each other. For parents residing within 100 miles of each other, the standard possession basically divides holidays evenly between both parents and gives the parent with visitation at least two weekends a month, two hours on Thursdays during weeks not in possession, and 30 days during the summer.

School holidays can extend a parent’s visitation. Under the standard possession order, if a parent has visitation on a weekend and the following Monday is a school holiday, then the period of visitation ends at 6:00 p.m. on Monday instead of Sunday. Likewise, if school is out on Friday, the weekend visitation starts at 6:00 p.m. Thursday instead of Friday.

Differences for over 100 miles:

Here are the differences for parents residing over 100 miles of each other:

Holidays are still the same, except spring break which is given to the possessory parent every year.
Parent with visitation is given 42 days in the summer instead of the standard 30 days.
Elections to visit once a month instead of 1st, 3rd and 5th weekend.

Standard Possession Order Includes

The standard child custody order for parents who live less than 100 miles apart presumes that a child age 3 or older will live most of the time with one parent and that the other parent will have visitation on the following schedule:

Weekends starting at 6:00 p.m. on the first, third and fifth Friday of each month and ending at 6:00 p.m. on the following Sunday (an option is to start when school is dismissed on Fridays and return Monday to school).
Thursdays during the school year starting at 6:00 p.m. and ending at 8:00 p.m. (option: beginning when school ends and/or ending when school resumes the following Friday morning).
From 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the child’s birthday.Fathers have possession for Father’s Day from 6:00 p.m. on the Friday before Father’s Day until 6:00 p.m. on Father’s Day.Mothers have the same period for Mother’s Day.
In even-numbered years:Dad has the child during Spring Break, Mom has the child for Thanksgiving, Dad has the child for Christmas from the time school lets out until noon on December 26, and Mom has possession from December 26 until 6 p.m. on the day before school resumes. The use of “Mom” and “Dad” is for an example only—it could be reversed depending on who has primary custody. In odd-numbered years, the holiday schedule is reversed.
The parent with visitation has the child for 30 days during the summer. If that parent gives notice before May 1, he/she can designate the 30 days during the summer when he/she has possession in up to two separate periods of at least seven days. If no notice is given, he/she has possession from July 1 until July 31.

How To Treat A Vomiting Child At Home

Infants and kids sometimes experience bouts of vomiting for a lot of reasons. It may be related to a decrease of the normal motility of the stomach, therefore food does not move from the stomach to the intestine. Vomiting also occurs once the brain over stimulates the stomach and the esophagus by making its nearby muscle tissues contract, causing stomach contents to be expelled. Oftentimes, vomiting in young children, especially when related with fever is much more likely brought on by an infection in the gastrointestinal tract.

In most kids, vomiting is a symptom that should pass within a day or two and can be treated at home. Here are some useful tips on how to properly handle a child who is vomiting at home.

1. Stop offering meals or liquids for approximately 2 hours. Existence of food in the stomach will further encourage vomiting.

2. Right after the two-hour period, start offering clear liquids in small sips or you may let your child suck on ice chips to stop dehydration. It is also ideal to give him oral hydration solutions like pedialyte to correct electrolyte loss in the body. Avoid lemonade, orange, and other acidic beverages simply because they can exacerbate the problem.

3. If there is no more vomiting after introduction of clear fluids, you may begin offering your child small amount of bland meals such as dry crackers, cereals, or toast. Avoid caffeinated and dairy-containing meals.

4. Bear in mind to keep the kid in a seated position instead of lying for about 30 minutes after introduction of any water or solid foods. This is performed to lessen odds of expulsion of the food by way of the mouth, and to avoid aspiration of vomitus (gastric contents) into the lungs.

5. If the kid vomits while in lying position, turn his head to the side to enable vomitus to exit out of his mouth.

6. You may gradually resume the child’s diet 24 to 48 hours soon after the vomiting has ceased.

Although most cases of vomiting maybe managed at home, a doctor ought to be consulted if: a) your kid’s vomiting persists for over 8 hours; b) if vomiting is accompanied with fever, sever stomach pain, diarrhea, or severe headache; c) if the child shows symptoms of dehydration similar to weakness, irritability, dry lips, mouth and tongue, little or no urination, sunken eyeballs, and so on.; and d) if vomit consists of blood or resembles coffee ground.

Vomiting is only a symptom that encompasses a lot of possible illnesses that a kid can have. While it is necessary to examine what causes the vomiting, each parent must understand that dehydration is the closest potential hazard when the kid is vomiting, and this can only be avoided by proper institution of rehydration therapy at home.

ODD Support for Parents

Article by Chris J. Thompson

When your child has ODD, the frustrations that you feel as a parent are never simple and easy. Support can be a challenge to get. Other parents often just assume that you can’t control your kid.

In some ways, there is a truth to this. Your child often seems to be out of control, right? However, with ODD, support isn’t just about getting your kid to behave like a normal kid. It’s about gaining an understanding of why kids behave the way they do. And specifically, it’s about what makes your child different from the rest.

All kids, no matter how old they are or what their background is, have a basic built-in program to want to get the things the want. Everyone comes equipped with this basic desire. Sometimes, being defiant is a part of the strategy that kids will use to get what they want. And often, it works very well; especially in cases where a guardian has shown he’s unwilling or unable to apply discipline.

Our world is changing daily, in many ways. The ways our parents disciplined us are sometimes not accepted anymore. But when do we get any kind of education or help in how to discipline kids today? There is a constant barrage of instruction coming at us from TV shows, but often it’s conflicting in nature.

Sometimes it’s easy enough to get help from other parents. But other times you just need to turn to a productive and proven social worker for help. James Lehman is one such social worker who has worked with a lot of kids with ODD. He’s worth turning to if you need ODD support with your child.

Lehman’s years of experience have led him to a clear conclusion: it’s not just the behavior of ODD children that is wrong – the real problem is the way in which they form decisions to behave in these ways.

The way Lehman describes it, this is caused by a “thinking error”, which he suggests is learned, usually, at an early age. Unlike a math class where you can show your work to prove you came to an answer in a logical manner, decisions regarding day to day behavior are not as easily checked.

When a child has a flaw in the way he arrives at simple behavior decisions, it only gets more flawed with more complex decisions. Often these major flaws can be fixed by solving the underlying basic flaw in the child’s thinking.

When working with a child who has ODD, support is for both you and the child. Fixing these thinking errors is sometimes all you need to do.

About the Author

Learn more about ODD support and find out what I highly recommend to parents of defiant kids at http://kidsbehaviorproblems.com

Child Trust Fund: Invest For the Future of Your Children

The cost of bringing up children and providing for their future, like everything else, is continuously increasing. In fact, a recent survey calculated that it currently costs a staggering £9,000 per year to bring up the average teenager, and the total cost of bringing up a child to the age of 21 years has been estimated to be just over £180,000.

Although it is too late to help the current crop of teenagers with seemingly expensive tastes through the transition into independent adulthood, the government has introduced a Child Trust Fund scheme that aims to help children born after 1st September 2002.

The scheme allows parents and the children themselves to save tax-free towards their future. Every child born on or after the qualifying date receives a voucher from the government to a minimum value of £250, which can be increased to a maximum of £500 for low-income families, to start their Child Trust Fund. There are a number of selected banks and building societies that offer specific child trust fund products, and the choice of which to invest in lies with the parents.

The voucher is invested in a fund holding stocks and shares, to which there is the option for additional amounts up to a maximum of £1,200 per annum to be added every year. Of course, as the values of stocks and shares can go down as well as up, the child trust fund is just one way of saving for your child’s future. It may be worth thinking of other ways to build up considerable nest-eggs.

For example, savings accounts should also be encouraged allowing children to pay their birthday monies or other funds that they receive from pocket money or doing odd-jobs, even part-time jobs directly into the account. That way, with the addition of annual interest, the child can not only watch their savings grow, but spread their investment across different methods of providing for their future.

For instance, a savings account into which £1,200 per year or £100 per month is invested can amount to a substantial amount of cash by the age of 18, without taking into consideration any compound interest added. Depending upon the interest rates earned over that period it could be considerably more; easily enough to provide for a good start to adult life for your child. Similarly, an investment in a child trust fund at the same amount could provide a healthy return, dependent upon the performance of the markets over that period.

Psychological Impacts Of Obesity In Child

It only seems natural to consider the psychological effects of childhood obesity and how it affects our children. Not too long ago such topics would be unheard of. The child obesity issue worldwide has received so much attention it seems appropriate to consider what is going on in their head. How is their weight issue affecting them emotionally? It’s what we don’t see in our children which is of most concern. We can easily see their day to day routine but what underlining psychological effects of teen obesity don’t we see?

Teasing and bullying could play havoc on the mind
It is often thought that young children who are obese will grow out of it or they are just carrying “baby fat”. In some cases this is true and they do grow out of it, but what if they don’t? It is a known fact that kids can be mean and bully others. Children who are teased about their weight tend to have poor body image, low self-esteem, and symptoms of depression. Everyone wants to have friends but sometimes the obese child feels isolated and lonely. Their self esteem is low and they use food as their comfort zone, which is usually high in fat, sugar, and calories. The isolation makes them less active so exercise is compromised. Because of peer pressure the psychological affects of childhood obesity affects their overall health which can lead to more serious medical problems. The teen years are all about growing up, being more independent, and socialization.

Is absenteeism linked to childhood obesity?
Peer pressure in teenagers is a major issue whether they have a weight problem or not, which is why teasing obese teens can be psychologically devastating.
Peer pressure is the hub of the psychological effects of teen obesity. The spin-off is problems in school and missing too much school. Obese children are absent from school more often than non obese children. Some will miss school or skip classes to avoid ridicule and others due to medical complications associated with being obese. Behavioral and learning problems develop because they feel depressed and socially unaccepted. Obese children have an equal right to education as non obese children but the taunting affects them emotionally and it’s easier to avoid than confront. They are missing out on their education because of the psychological effects of teen obesity.

Why psychological effects of obesity can be carried into adulthood
The psychological effects of child obesity have the potential to be carried into adulthood. An alarming number of obese teens grow up to be obese adults, although it doesn’t have to be this way. Once the weight problem is cured and their physical appearance has improved, their self esteem and body image will be restored. Parents must be careful not to ignore the psychological effects of teen obesity that they may still have bottled up inside.

There are steps that parents can do to help ease the psychological stress that results from teen obesity. Engage your teen in open dialog about their eating habits. Many times teens over eat because they are depressed. Openly communicating with your obese child about the problem will allow you to work a plan that is attainable. The good news is with proper nutrition, exercise, and a real good diet plan teens can overcome obesity and live a full normal life.

Childhood obesity can lead to social anxieties
Everyone has a unique view of the world which is different from anyone else. To live in harmony with each other, society has created standards in common agreement with the general population. This has also created a public view of obesity and the regard for it is hardly appreciative. Adolescent obesity automatically receives a negative reaction from society because of the preference for the slim and lean. Many are still subject to verbal abuse. Adolescent females, for instance receive derogatory names and the unending comments about their appearance from peers, family and strangers. There are also those who are subject to bullying or the other way around. Because of the social response for obesity, obese teenagers have the tendency to withdraw.

Adolescent obesity then creates social anxieties. Everybody in society wants to be accepted and belong to a group of their choice. Social anxieties for children are brought upon by the conditions of an adolescent’s environment. The development of social anxieties may not originate from home. Some develop the fear from traumatic interactions with non-obese children. The degree of trauma varies but the fear develops nonetheless. Here is where child obesity creates social anxieties. The world is different to people. A slim and healthy teen may have his peers’ admiration. He is able to do more such as participate in sports, granted by the blessing of a fit body. The confidence builds as skills and a healthy mentality develops. The case is different for an obese child. The less they participate due to their weight, the worse they feel about themselves. Some are afraid and limit themselves to a certain comfortable peer group who have already accepted their condition and are not bothered by it. They create boundaries in order to protect themselves from whatever danger a social interaction can bring to an obese child.

Taking a look at child obesity creating psychological anxieties, it is apparent that social anxieties are formed as a defense mechanism. Then why does child obesity create social anxieties? The answer is self-preservation. The world is still about survival of the fittest. An obese child may find himself at odds with world allowing psychological anxieties to creep in and take over.