What a weird Works For Me Wednesday title. It sounds like I am advocating some sort of child abandonment. I’m not, although we all can admit we have days (weeks) where that is tempting. I am not having one of those weeks as I just returned from 4 glorious kid free days in sunny weather. Perfect amount of time to be away from your kids- at the end of 4 days you are just starting to remember you have them and that they are pretty cute and fun to be around.
I have to say, I have been very blessed with kids who adapt very well to us leaving them. There really isn’t much separation anxiety. In fact, Lily assured us before we left that she wouldn’t miss us at all and by the way how soon were we leaving so she could spend the night with her grandparents. Isn’t it nice to know I housed her for 9 months so that she could adore me so?
Anyway, I do have a trick to help those of you whose children actually miss you while you are away. Actually, I do believe it is part of the reason Lily said she doesn’t miss us. I also should note (cause she is reading this) that this idea comes straight from my ingenious mommy who used this trick with me when my parents trotted round the globe leaving us kiddos behind.
For everyday that the hubby and I are gone, we leave a note with a present for the girls to open. My mom used candy (awesome!!), but we being far more sensible (and not near as awesome) use books. Since Lily has no idea that her options involve candy, she is super jazzed about books. You, however, can use whatever you choose. Then every morning that we are gone, the girls get a note saying how much we love them and how many days are left until they will see us again. I feel like this makes the fact that we are gone a little easier when they have an exact sense of how long that actually will be. Plus we have momentarily distracted them with gifts. As you can see, I firmly believe the cornerstone of good parenting is bribing your children with gifts in order to get them to love and obey you.
For more Works For Me Wednesday tips head over to Rocks In My Dryer.
I remember my parents doing something similar with us when we were little! I loved it!
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This is a good idea. I like how you’re balancing bribery with nurturing literacy ;+)
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Twitter: charmaspice
says:
When Clare was younger and we went for our week and a half CO trip her and I made a paper chain…one ring for each day we were gone. Then she tore a ring off every day to see how many days it’d be until we saw her again. Not as much fun as a book every day, but for a long trip it worked. Another fun thing we did a year ago, was sent her post cards from a couple of states we drove through telling her where we were, and when we’d see her. As she gets older we’ll probably include a map of sorts so she can see where we’re at in relation to her.
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that’s an awesome idea! We usually only had the “What did you get me?” anticipation to hang on, this is much more fun!
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That is such a good idea!! I’m lucky that my kids don’t have seperation anxiety either- but I’m sure a little gift for each day that we’re gone wouldn’t hurt anything.
. I was happy to get in under 100.
You must still be in vacation mode- you’re #11 today
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Twitter: WholeLivingGal
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note to self: bribe future children with candy and gifts. got it.
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What a marvellous idea!
Feel welcome to visit my blog
Laane on the World
Have a great day!
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my parents went on a trip each September for business. There would be a line of gifts in bags at the top of her closet, one for each day they were gone. There would be a note telling us that she was praying for whatever activity we had going on that day and telling us how much she loved us. We had all kinds of gifts, I am sure most were from the dollar store. It helped us to visualize how long they would be gone and it gave us a little something to look forward to.
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This is a great idea, especially since my husband is the big ol’ gift giver. Our youngest still has bouts of “Where’s my mommy?” anxiety, so this will be a great distraction.
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