How to Leave Your Kids

In a couple of days I’ll be leaving my kids. It’s part of being a parent in the corporate world so I guess it comes with the territory. It still makes it really hard to do though. If you find yourself scheduled to take a business trip and you have kids at home, here are some things you need to do…

1. Let them know about it well in advance – Nobody likes to learn about you leaving at the last minute. Give them notice as soon as you find out. Sometimes trips get scheduled at the last minute, but if the trip is known early, let them know early.
2. Share information with them – Let them know all about your trip, where you are going, what you will be doing, etc. This is a great opportunity to teach them about the workings of the corporate world. They’ll start to understand how business is conducted, how corporations work, and what exactly you do on your job.
3. Plan for when you are gone – Make sure you have everything planned out for when you are gone. This includes figuring out how the kids are going to get to practice, what projects at school need to be done, and if anything needs to be cancelled if your wife or husband can’t be two places at once. It’s completely acceptable to let your kids’ coaches/teachers know if they can’t make a practice since one of the parents is out of town for business. You could also organize a car pool and see if some of the other parents could help with the shuttling.
4. Give them love out the door – On the day you leave, make sure you kiss them and tell them you love them. If they are old enough, let them know to help your spouse as much as they can while you are gone. It’s going to be extra hard for them while you are gone so they are going to need the help. Most kids will leap at the opportunity to take on the extra responsibility and show what they can do. The important thing here is to let them know you love them, you will miss them, and you can’t wait to get back.
5. Reach back – When you are out of town, find time to call back to the house. Keep track of time zone differences and make sure you find a time where they are awake and probably free from activities. You don’t want to call and leave a non-personal voicemail. Make sure you call every day too. It’s important they know you are thinking about them regardless of how busy you might be on your trip. I usually call every night and wish them a good night. That way you get to hear all the news from their day and you also get to leave them thinking about you as they drift off to sleep.
6. Bring them something – This is probably the most important…at least to them. Every business trip I go on I bring something back for my girls. It could be just a simple silly $2 trinket, but they still love it. I usually try to bring them something that represents where I was visiting, something that is from the local culture. You don’t want to buy them a basic shirt or scarf you could pick up at Target back home. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the best place to find this sort of gift is usually at the airport gift shop. For example, if you are visiting the Southwest U.S. and you want to bring them something back that is unique to that area, where else are you going to find a small cactus in a box? The airport gift shop! When you get home, after the hugs, you’ll thoroughly enjoy their eyes lighting up when you reach in your bag and pull out their gifts. You can also use this as a teaching moment. My girls may never get to go to that particular areas of the country. Bring them something back that teaches them about that area. They need to know the world is a big place and there is so much to experience out there.

There you have it. While it sucks you have to leave your kids for multiple days on a business trip, try to make it just a little bit better using the tips I laid out above. It will not only help you get through the next few days without them, but better yet it will help the kids deal with you being gone. And of course, they’ll be looking forward to the gifts!