As any parent who travels regularly for business knows, we’re all just one cancelled flight (or sudden stomach bug) away from complete mayhem back at home. Juggling work and family takes on a whole new dimension when one parent travels (never mind when both do!). Over the years, we’ve had to travel to visit clients, attend professional development conferences, set up booths at trade shows and oversee special events. When we were in our twenties, this was deemed a valuable perk of the job. Now that we are older—and have young children at home—it’s no longer as simple as packing a bag and heading to the airport.
While we trust that our husbands are capable of feeding the kids (Cheerios for dinner) and getting them to day care (it’s pick-up we worry about), we just feel better about our business trips when we’ve set everything in its proper place at home before we are miles away. And that starts with an organized and well-stocked kitchen.
With the economy being what it is—and our household budgets feeling the squeeze—it’s even more important to plan ahead, because making mealtimes easy will also cut down on the takeout bill. To keep costs down, we try to buy only what the family will eat, like plenty of pre-prepared or frozen meals from the grocery store instead of food that might spoil from neglect. Using an online grocer while on the road lets us comparison shop, then have food delivered to our house if we can’t get it before we go. And if we don’t think our husbands will have time to do the dishes, we stock up on inexpensive paper plates and plastic utensils from the dollar store.
Once the kitchen is stocked, it’s time to get organized. For us, this means:
- Preparing a daily schedule to share with a caregiver, babysitter and/or spouse. Be sure to include important times for the bus, day care pick-up and emergency contact numbers
- Organizing diaper bags, backpacks and signing permission slips and school paperwork in advance
- Washing the kids’ clothes to ensure the all-important T-ball shirt is clean come game time
- Swapping car pool schedules and confirming with other parents via e-mail
- Using Google calendar (or another online calendar) to lock in travel dates, log the kids’ extracurricular activities and share with others who need to be “in the know”
Once we have arrived at our destination, in the quiet comfort of our hotel rooms, we use technology to connect with our families back home. Skype and Google video chat allow us to see our kids and talk to them in real time, and did we mention that there’s no charge? (If your home computer does not have a built-in camera, you will have to invest in a webcam in order to see and hear your loved ones.) So, even though we have complete confidence in our spouses, it is so nice to see (with our own eyes) that the kids left the house that morning somewhat presentable to the public and that they have actually combed their hair.
So what do you do to prepare for business travel? How do you keep things running smoothly back home?
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Great article Erin & Kristin!
Sadly, my “preparations” mostly involve hiring a babysitter to come with me since Daddy isn’t usually able to watch them while I’m away.
But I did recently leave babysitter and daddy at home when I went on a business trip and one of the things that worked really well was that I left “assignments” for my girls to do while I was away. Some were “homework” like practicing drawing letters and doing “Spanish class” on the computer. Others were projects like planting seeds (none of which ever sprouted, but beggars can’t be choosers!).
So I would say making sure they have an idea of what to do to keep busy (other than destroying the house) seems to work.
Great advice and congratulations on the new gig. Because I traveled so much for my job, it was nothing new to my then 1 yr old son. My husband started to travel frequently for his job, so it became chaos. As my son got older and learned “are you going to work on the airplane or to your office”, we realized that we could turn it into a lesson. I purchased a map and pasted it on a piece of foam board. I bought large push pins to note where we lived, where the grandparents lived, where Mickey Mouse lived, etc. Then, I bought smaller pins so that my husband and I could sit down with our son the day before our trip and put the pin in the location of our destination. It was a great way to communicate with him about how our travel worked and give him an idea of who he knew that we were close. Maybe there is the added benefit of giving him a leg up in Geography class. It made the long trips a bit easier knowing he could at least see on a map where we were.
Great post, Erin. It is my husband who travels for business and I don’t think he has ever done ANY of these things for me.
I don’t always have the time or extra cash to buy my kids a souvenir from my travels, but I want them to know I’m thinking of them when I’m away. Any suggestions on inexpensive/creative gifts from the road?
I’ve started to travel on business quite a bit within the past few months and have a 3-year old at home. I’m worried that I’m missing some important time with my daughter, but can’t cut down on the travel right now (important to keep my job during these times). I like the tip about skyping so I can see her more, but don’t think she understands why I have to go away in the first place. Any tips to help make her understand why daddy has to go away?