Readings

I just ordered three books on the topic of traveling parents:

Keeping Your Family Close When Frequent Travel Pulls You Apart (1998)

The Business Traveling Parent: How to Stay Close to Your Kids When You're Far Away (2000)

Parent's Guide to Business Travel: Practical Advice and Wisdom for When You Have to Be Away (2003)

In this article Dan Verdick gives the following recommendations:

"I really try to think of things from my children’s perspective and how it will affect them,’’ Verdick says.

Before he leaves, Verdick puts together a detailed itinerary and might ask for one back from his daughter (his son’s not old enough) that will highlight her class schedule and after-school plans so they’ll both always know what the other is doing.

He also uses this opportunity for a geography lesson. "I make the most of the situation by teaching my daughter how to read a map, and then I’ll correspond by mail or e-mail, talk on the phone and have conversations about what I’m seeing,’’ Verdick says.

In another article Charlie Hudson says:

“Millions of parents face family separations and work-related travel on a regular basis,” says Charlie Hudson. “One of the most vital points for successful dealing with the time away is solid, two-way communication that begins at the earliest ages.”

The books mentioned above are all fairly old. So are the articles. I wonder why...