I am out of town this week on a business trip. I don’t travel all the much, a hand full of times per year for business and maybe one or two other times for fun, but my children still do not love it when I am gone from home.
What I do when I am traveling to make it easier on the children.
1) For longer trips I when my children were little, I would make a paper chain. At the end of each day they remove a link off of the chain. This is a great visual reminder of how long I will be away and help the people who are babysitting deal with the never ending question, “When will Mom be home?” This is also a great pre-travel project to do with your preschoolers, too!
2) Have stuffed animal will travel. Have you seen those television commercials for Cingular where the Dad finds the stuffed animal in his briefcase and takes photos of the stuffed animal throught his trip? A friend of mine told me that her children saw that commercial and wanted to do it also. Now when she travels she finds a surprise stuffed animal in her suitcase and she takes photos of it during the trip. Sending the photos digitally makes the kids feel like they know what is going on and helps them to feel closer to you.
3) Write notes to be left for the kids. When I am home, I write a note for my kids everyday and stick it in their lunchboxes. When I go away I write notes in advance, mostly generic so they can go in any one’s lunchbox, and have my caregiver put them in their lunchboxes or backpack every morning.
4) Bring home a present. Sometimes this is something a simple as a pack of M&M’s for each kid. yes, I could buy them at the local mini-mart, but really what else are you going to bring home from New Jersey.
So tell me, do you have anything that you do to make being away from your kids easier? And tips for making it go smoother for your caregiver?
Although i do not go away – My husband often does. Since we often read to our children at night, we buy 2 copies of the book that we will be reading when we are gone. He phones in at bedtime and reads right along with them as usual. This is amazing reading builder because the child actually has to follow on their own vs following dad’s finger. they get their one on one time that they miss, and go to bed much easier. It’s a win win win solution to a hard situation.
Comment by Claire — October 22, 2009 @ 12:35 pm
I mail a postcard home from wherever I am traveling to. I try to get my husband to do it too.
Comment by Ani — October 23, 2009 @ 1:52 pm
i do not travel often but when i do i make sure there is a note listing who what when where and how everyone is going to do the things they need to do while i am gone and my great husband holds down the fort. i then head off knowing that things will be all right and enjoy myself.
Comment by tammy — October 24, 2009 @ 8:40 am