Are you a WoMo who travels? If you are, you’ll understand the sheer logistical operation that comes with work travel and that’s before you even consider the emotional impact.
I know every household is different, but in our house I do the food planning, I do the Ocado order and I do the cooking. It’s not a chore, its my wind down time and I look forward to it when I get home. So when I am away, I think about the food in the fridge, what everyone needs, whether the nanny has all the instructions, who is picking up and taking who to school, who has a school thing going on and when the next orthodontist appointment is.
I write notes and leave them with my hotel details, my flight details and the schedule for the kids. I think about who manages a Thursday morning when the step kids need to get to school too, and I worry about my littlest. He is in the best of hands, but being only 2, I worry about him the most. He and I have a very close bond, he is a Mummy snuggler and I feel a true ache when I’m away from him as he is too little to understand why I have disappeared.
If you are still reading, it’s probably because you travel too. So how do you survive it? A few top tips:
- Plan. If you are the major organizer in your house, organize. It isn’t about everyone else, its about you. And if you need to feel you have got the ducks in a row and done your planning, then do it.
- Take time for you. On the plane, watch a film. Cut yourself some slack.
- Leave a note if you have bigger kids. I sometimes leave them a note under their pillow or a chocolate treat for when they get home from school after I have left.
- FaceTime. Oh thank goodness for FaceTime. For bigger kids and via the nanny for the littler ones, it’s a great way to communicate with the kids.
- Voice Memos. For my youngest, I sing nursery rhymes into voice memo on my phone and send them to my nanny. He loves it!
- Pre arrange a time to speak. If you are in a different time zone, try and arrange a time to talk to the kids so it works for everyone.
- Be at home the evening before you go. Get a good nights sleep particularly if you are travelling to a different time zone. So avoid seeing your mates and head to bed early. It might be the last good sleep you get for couple of days and more importantly it means you get to tuck the kids into bed.
- Eat well. It is easy to eat rubbish when travelling. You feel knackered and a bar of chocolate is the easy energy fix, but it wont give you sustained energy.
And most of all, try not to worry and think positive. Trust that whoever is holding the fort at home with the kids has their best interest at heart, and by keeping in touch you can feel connected.