This weekend I’m going to a MOPS Conference. This made me think about leaving my kids when I used to go away for MOPS or other things when they were younger.
In 2010 my husband & I drove to Sydney for a National MOPS Conference. My husband was organising the tech side of the conference. Even though the conference was only for a weekend we left 2 days before the Conference so as to arrive the Day before to help set up. We then took our time driving home. So we were away for about 9 days all together.
Somewhere I’d seen the idea of leaving notes for your children for when you are away. This particular time I was organised enough and wrote a note for each day that we were away. They stayed with both sets of grandparents while we were away so I labeled each envelope with “(name) for (day & date)”. I tried to think ahead about what they would be doing and talking about that or asking questions about their day. They were short notes but it let them know that we were thinking about them.
Of course we always rang them regularly whilst we were away.
I think my son appreciated the notes the most. His love language is Words of Affirmation, so I think this really spoke to him. He wrote back on one of the notes which I have kept & is pictured. You can see where he has added in pencil. He was trying to using fancy mirror writing.
My daughter’s love language is gifts. So she would often ask if I’d bought anything back for her. Fortunately when you go away to a conference you often get a welcome pack, so I would try and find something in there to give to my kids.
When I went overseas for a friends wedding when my children were about 6 & 8, I sent many postcards to them. I think I even sent one a day or 2 before I left so that they would get something in the mail from me the day that I left. Of course I also emailed a lot and rang home a bit.
If you are away from your children for a period of time do you do something to let them know that you are thinking of them?