Guest Author - Yvonne Russell

Tips for Women Business Travelers

When you have to go away overnight or for a few days, maybe for the first time, help your toddlers understand.

1. Let them know well ahead of time, and tell them where you’ re going
2. Show them on a map and tell them about the place
3. Explain how you will get there e.g. car, plane etc.
4. Tell them where you are staying e.g. a hotel. Show them a photo of the room
if you have one.
5. Explain it is for work and not a holiday, so they don’t think they are being left out of the fun
6. Explain that you will only be away a few days and that you will be back soon.
7. Tell them what will happen at home while you are gone e.g. babysitting, school drop offs etc.
8. If you have a partner, involve him in the explaining.
9. Be positive. Kids pick up negative vibes even though they don’t say anything. This may cause confusion and worry.
10.Talk about it as if it is a natural thing, and include them in your preparations.

Involve Them
Use these tips as a starting point when you have to leave your toddlers at home. Fine tune them to suit your situation. Only you know the best way to explain these things to your particular children. You know how they will respond to different approaches and how they will best understand and cope.

The key thing is to involve them, so that surprises don’t turn into negatives. They may have lots of questions. They may have none, or at least not that they ask out loud. If business trips away from home are going to be a regular part of your job, how you handle involving your children is crucial both short term and long term. The more naturally you can integrate the conversations about this in everyday interactions, the more likely the kids are to accept it and cope with it.

What you want is an outcome which gives both you and your kids peace of mind, both in the lead up to the trip and until you come home. Think about which approach and what to say to your. kids.