One of our biggest issues in truck driving was finding a way to keep our children connected with their father. My preschooler is very, very much a daddy's girl. Her first adjustment was going from being home with Daddy all the time because he was unemployed to Daddy being a student at a trucking company and being gone for 2 months. My daughter was only about 18 months at the time so she did not understand why Daddy wasn't home. She would fuss and act out which really pulled on my heart strings. The first week was by far the worst. People suggested having a pillow or blanket made with Daddy's picture, letting her sleep with a shirt he had worn, using a picture to make a cardboard cutout of Daddy. We finally found that the best thing was for her to talk to Daddy every night. A picture of Daddy comes up in my phone when we call so the kids can connect Daddy's face and voice.
We know that taking advantage of the opportunity to sleep is very important in trucking, so talking to the kids isn't always a reality. For those nights when Daddy couldn't talk we had a prerecorded voice-mail that would let them know he was thinking of them and that he would talk to them as soon as he could.
Our preschooler will also leave Daddy voice-mails if she cannot talk to him that day. It is extremely important to her to be able to tell her daddy all the highlights of her day. How do your children stay connected?
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