Helping Toddlers Cope when a Parent is Away

This week my husband is away on a business trip, and we have done a few things to help two-year old Caden understand.  Here is what we did:

1. Talk about the trip early and often. Over the past month we have been preparing Caden for this week. We started by telling him that Daddy was going to fly in an airplane to Texas. Since he knows what a plane is and that it flies, it was easy to bring it up whenever we saw an airplane.

2. Mini Geography Lesson- About two weeks ago I picked up a United States map puzzle to show him where we live in Rhode Island, and where Texas was. Surprisingly even though he doesn’t understand the concept of distance he picked it up that Daddy was going to Texas and can even point out Texas on a map and recognizes the shape of Texas. He can also point to where we live on the map.

3. Countdown Chart- Because Caden has no concept of days and time, except first, after and soon, I wanted to be able to help him count the days until Daddy gets home. Inspired by Rachael at Nothing if not Intentional I created a countdown chart for Caden using pictures to show the events of that day. He doesn’t seem to understand that we are counting the days until Daddy comes home, but we place a sticker on the chart after each day is through and count how many days are left. Maybe by the end of the week he will have grasped the concept.

4. Message Board- Inspired by Stephanie at Twodaloo, I used a small dry erase board to write down with Caden what we did that day. Then when Daddy calls in for his nightly FaceTime Caden can look at the pictures to remind him what we did that day when talking with Daddy. I am really happy with this idea, it really helped Caden when on the phone.

Has your child(ren) ever experienced a parent being away? Did you do anything to help them cope? How did they do?

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