DEEP DIVE: When Mom Leaves Town

This Deep Dive series is all about tips to stay sane while traveling with family —immediate or extended, kids younger or older in tow, across the state or across the globe!

Does it seem like just as much work to leave your kids behind for a couple of days as not to go in the first place? Do your instructions for family operational procedures during your absence run more than five pages? 

Getting away from our kids—for work, for the weekend, for a friend’s 40th—isn’t just good for us. It’s also an opportunity for our kids to realize that “only Mommy” stuff they pull when we’re around is not as necessary as they might have thought.

Margaret and Amy discuss:

• Why our kids may behave better when we aren’t around (and why it's not a bad thing)
• Why the best time to call your kids when you travel is in the morning
• How the instructions you leave behind can change as your kids grow

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

• Kari Bodnarchuk for The Boston Globe: ⁠Preparing Kids for When a Parent Travels⁠
• Smart Women Travelers: ⁠Keeping Mom’s Business Trip from Being Mom’s Guilt Trip⁠
• Our episode ⁠"We Forgot What Little Kids Were Like"⁠
• ⁠Kara Williams has great advice for vacationing with kids of all ages⁠

What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.

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