How Do I Manage Parenting Time?
Our Days Calendar provides the best online child custody calendar in the state of Texas. We make co parenting easy through an automated platform that is built around the SPO or Standard Possession Order of Texas. So, if you have ever wondered, “what is a good custody schedule?” or “how do I manage parenting time?” then you have come to the right place.
A Custody Child Calendar Built For Your Decree
Your divorce decree has been set for you. We can’t change your decree, but we can be sure that the time you get with your children is clear and easy to follow. Our Days Calendar has been built with the input of our founder, Dr. Farid Samie, who is not only a divorced parent, he also has a background in engineering and software/application development. Dr. Farid Samie, who likes to be called “Samie” was driven to build a system that could allow him to be a better co parent and help those in a similar situation. To do it well he had to collaborate with a number of divorce attorneys to analyze the Texas SPO or standard possession order. Samie knew it would take 3 things to be successful:
- A lot of complex programming,
- Insight from divorced parents,
- Legal insight to make an online service and software application that adheres to state-mandated standard possession orders. We’ve started with Texas, and we will build for other states in the future.
Our Days Calendar Understands Divorced Parents
The story at Our Days Calendar might start like a chapter pulled right from your own book of life.
In August of 2017, Hurricane Harvey had just hit Houston. The worst hurricane and flooding in US recorded history.
We were safe, the house didn’t flood, we sheltered a family of four, and post Harvey I was driving around a few days a week, moving people sheltered at churches and delivering food for fire departments in the neighborhood.
In September of that same year, I remember how I could go to bed and I was happier than ever. Everything was great. My wife appeared to be happy, our son had turned 3, he was in good health, we had good jobs, a good home, and my family in Sweden was healthy. Life was great.
And then…
It was a regular day of work, I picked up our son from daycare, got home, played, had dinner, and just hung around doing chores. I thought I was having a rich family life… and then the wife wanted to speak. And not a good kind of talk. We were going to have a divorce. She didn’t know why, but she just knew it had to happen. And so started a long litigation process.
The world crashed around me. From worrying about the fungus on the bushes in the yard, now I had to get used to the stress of going to Divorce Courts, and looking up Texas divorce online reviews: how to get a divorce in Texas without a spouse and all this stuff. Learning new terminologies like; “petitioner, motion for sanctions, TOs, SPO, E-SPO, Amicus attorney” and more was a real change. State of Texas divorce is unique but also similar as in any other state. You can expect long days and nights and in my case I was thinking about what will happen to our son? I know you thought a lot about your children too. Other thoughts were:
- What is a spouse entitled to in a divorce in Texas?
- Do you have to go to court for a divorce in Texas?
- How long does it take for a divorce to be final in Texas?
- How much will it cost?
- How do I find a good attorney?
I'm Thinking, "How Much Does A Divorce Cost On Average?"
Then there are the questions regarding the huge change of future plans and of course seeing all life savings and equities vanishing within months for a senseless litigation.
In February of 2018 the court decided in a Temp Order that the mother is primary custodian, and applied Texas Standard Possession Order (with elected Extension), E-SPO.
The pain of not being able to see our son, spending all that time in divorce courts, and with divorce lawyers, and all those produced documents that had to be reviewed, signed, paid…
AND now learn a complicated visitation with child:
- A non-custodial parent can see the child every 1st, 3rd, and 5th weekend of the month (HOW could a month have 5 weekends?)
- Every Thursday, BUT only during school years, and ONLY if there’s no holidays (Spring break, Christmas, New year…)
- Alternating holidays… and so it goes…
I tried to understand the legal descriptions one side, paying lawyers to help understand every time you need to, another side, and more importantly, how to keep track of who’s day will it be next Friday? Next weekend? Spring break?
The Answer To, "How Do I Manage Parenting Time?"
It became pretty clear that I would need to translate the SPO, standard possession order, into a Google sheet document. Long hours, staying awake more than 50 nights, correcting the formula and finally I nailed it.
This sheet would calculate the SPO visitation schedule automatically.
In May of 2019, 18 months after initiation of the litigation, a Jury of 12 unanimously overturned the TO decision and awarded me the primary custody of our child. The second-best day of my life (after the birth of our son).
Our Days Calendar is created!
Short after the trial, I contacted Dennis Charmington, a Swedish expert in app development and a long term friend. I needed someone I could trust, starting a business with limited money, and drive to build a “real” child custody calendar that would help others in the same situation.
Today
Just this afternoon I had to check with ourdayscalendar.com to double check my custody schedule:
May 29th is our son’s graduation from Pre-K. Am I going to take him there and be with him afterwards? Or am I going to drive and see and hug him there?
In a perfect world, Our Days Calendar wouldn’t be needed. Divorced parents and co-parents should act in the best interest of the child. Unfortunately, no divorce is perfect, and the child’s best interest is not always considered.
Save the time and money that you can spend better on your child with our child custody calendar software.
Thank you all (family, friends, colleagues, neighbors…) for the support and kindness you provided through this process. We will not forget!
Dr. Farid Samie, Founder/Partner, Our Days Calendar
