Preparing Amor Chiquito for Daddy's Trip

Geeky Entrepreneur is self-employed and so the majority of the time he works from home. The last few years, he has not flown anywhere. On Wednesday, he is flying to CA and will be gone for three days. This will be a first for Amor Chiquito. She is used to having Daddy home. She does not interact much with him from nine to six p.m., but she knows he is here, at home. When he is not home, she asks often when he is coming back.

How do we prepare her for this? What are good do’s and don’t’s while he is gone?

Here is what I have been thinking so far:

We will tell her the day before he leaves so that she is not anxious about it for days. Also, he is leaving at five a.m., so there will not be an opportunity for a proper goodbye the day of.

We will not make a big deal of it. For example, I am wondering if we should avoid mentioning that he will be in an airplane. She knows that people who fly in airplanes “go far away.”

I will do my best to get her to understand what a day is. If it seems like she gets that, I will explain that Daddy will be gone for three days. Each day, I will tell her what day we are on.

We are planning on video conferencing once a day. He will be on Pacific time and will have long days. Hopefully it will work.

A friend suggested that when Amor Chiquito talks about Daddy being gone I focus on when he is coming home, that he will be home soon, etc., rather than on how he is gone, she misses him, etc.

I plan on validating her feelings and keeping her occupied as much as possible.

We are going on a little trip ourselves! We are going to Boston to see my awesome friend Yaminette and her little one. I think Amor Chiquito will have fun playing with my friend’s son and his many trains! I am sure she will be fascinated by the big Peterpan bus! She has only been in one once before and she does not remember it. She was seven months.

Inserting rant here… Please do not imply that I should not go on this trip because I am visually impaired and my daughter is two and very active, seriously. I am a capable and cautious mother with a brain. I own a stroller and a backpack harness (what the heck is the correct name for those things?). I know when I need them. My daughter is just as safe as your kid is. By the way, you know what sucks the most? The fact that it is a relative, someone who has known me for 27 years, who said this to me. Rant over!

Back to traveling, I look forward to any thoughts/suggestions.