If your co-parent travels – occasionally 0r all the time – you know that holding down the home front is hard work. In Episode 36 we talk about what we’ve learned from years of experience about how to survive – and even thrive! – when your partner is away.
(Don’t miss next week’s follow-up to this – all about how to deal when you’re the one taking off!)
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Links we mentioned (or should have!) in Episode 36
- Your advice and tips about traveling spouses on our Facebook page and Instagram post (thank you so much!)
- Call the Midwife – Sarah’s go-to show when she watches TV alone in bed with her glass of wine 😉
- What I Make for Dinner When I Don’t Feel Like Cooking (Sarah for The Happiest Home)
- How I Beat the Fast-Food Habit (Meagan for The Happiest Home)
Hello M and S! I’m a weekly listener and I love your content…the best podcast I’ve found re: motherhood, family-life and being a “modern woman”.
This past show was great and I could relate to it on many levels. Although my husband doesn’t travel for work, he is gone quiet a bit from March 1-the end of May. He’s a head coach of a local high school baseball team. In today’s world of competitive high school sports, that’s an 80 hour/week job. I enjoyed hearing that other women handle “Daddy being gone” as I do, with sticking to a good schedule, feeding kids good meals, and not giving into the “oh, it’s a night off” call, that is the slippery, tempting slope!
On the flip side, I do travel 3-4 days a month for my job. I believe you’re addressing this topic in your next episode. It’s funny, because yes, dads have to prepare to be gone but, they do not have to go to the lengths that women have to when leaving their family for a couple days.
1) I always have to make sure that our online (Cozi) calendar is updated and that notifications are set to remind him of different activities.
2) I have to go through that calendar with him to confirm that he can get kids to and from those activities. If he can’t, I have to arrange rides for the kids or make sure our babysitter is available and willing to help.
3) I have to have grocery shopped and let him know what is available for meals…he likes it even better if I’ve already prepared the meals and put them in the fridge to just re-heat.
4) If I’m gone for more than 3 days…it’s best if I just call in reinforcements…ie: his mom, to come help 🙂
My husband is fantastic and totally capable of taking care of the kids and himself, but he’s come to rely on me (which I do love) and my organizational skills in all aspects in our lives. So, when I travel for work, I just need to make sure that everything is covered. VS. when he is gone coaching or traveling, he knows it’s covered. 🙂
Thanks again for your show…I love it!
Amy Pulk Meara
amy.m.meara@gmail.com
Mom of boys, 12 and 10
Amy, thank you so much for your wonderful comment, and I TOTALLY relate to so much of what you are saying, particularly about having a fantastic, competent husband who nonetheless relies on my detail-brain. Just this morning I’m working on the details of a very quick – but sort of complicated – mid-week trip coming up for me. It’s a relief to have all those little details figured out so I can look forward to getting away! 🙂 So glad you’re liking the show, and thanks again for commenting!