Quick Link: 11 Survival Tips for When Mom Travels
I travel more than I thought I would, more than many of my peers in the US and here in Djibouti. I have three kids and a working husband so what does the family do when I’m gone? Amazingly, they do just fine. Apparently dad can do a pretty darn good job. Sometimes it feels like the rule in Djibouti is:
- when dad travels everything breaks (water pumps, car tires, toilets, doors fall off, electrical outlets shock)
- when mom travels people get sick (chicken pox, fevers, strep throat)
Guess what? I learn how to change a tire or call a plumber or prop up a door and the family heals and survives.
Is there any doubt that this man can handle things? Nope.
We have come up with some tips that help though and you can read them all at Babble Voices. Preview: I never freeze meals and I never stock the fridge.
Click here to read 11 Survival Tips for When Mom Travels
(posting here because i can never get the comments to work over there…)
great tips – totally agree, especially on that last one. the parent left at home has carried the brunt of the load (especially in our family 🙂 ).
one thing we did, as expats with a house helper who worked for our family when i left to return to the states to have our youngest (a 4 month absence), i left menus/recipes with grocery lists for my husband. menus/recipes were so our helper knew what to cook/prepare. grocery lists were so he knew what to buy. and i did freeze ahead a few treats for birthdays and other special days. for shorter trips – we operate on a very similar structure to what you described.
the teaching the kids to help out and look out for each other pays off in the end, too. recently, hubs and i have been able to leave for a few days for ministry things and people don’t mind helping out with our kids or find them to be a burden because they take care of each other and really just need an adult supervisor.