Dh leaves on Thursday

[Melissa1983]

Dh is leaving on Thursday for 3 months... He is going down to Melbourne for a course..

DD1 wont listen when we try and talk to her about it, she just changes the subject.

DD1 won't have anything to do with him over the weekend, she is normally so close to him.

When he done nights a few weeks ago, all she done was cry every night until he came home.

How am i going to cope with him being away 3 months?

We have thought about getting a photo of him and putting it in her room, so she can see him every night and plus she will be talking to him.

I am thinking about taking them to the airport on Thursday so they can see him going off on the place, is this a good idea?

[mummyof5]

I pretty much always take my kids if Dh is leaving for any length of time, think it helps make the idea less abstract, IYKWIM.
The photo idea is a good one, maybe he can take her to the shops to buy a frame, or you can grab one for him to give to her....I usually try to have a recent pic of him with the kids when he goes, plus we usually have him as the screen saver on the computer, stuff like that. Can you make video calls on your mobiles?
Some people like to mark off the days until the member returns on a calander, though I found until me older kids were at school, didn't really mean much to them.
Is there anyway you can afford to go down there for a trip halfway through or something, just so you all have something to look forward too?
Good luck with it all.

[whatwasithinking]

Never having been in this position what mummyof5 has said and suggessted sounds great.

Good luck and hope she will be OK - I am sure she will though.

[MilkOnTap]

Mummyof2 - how did you go yesterday??? :hugs:

[Melissa1983]

it was really hard..

The girls came to the airport and they were happy until it was time to board the plane.

Mikayla started as soon as he lined up, and didn't stop crying the whole time, and abby didn't start until she couldn't see him anymore..

So far they have been pretty good, except for tonight..

[Olismum]

Hi, I've got my daughter the Sesame street deployment DVD's and also in the process of ordering some books from the US to help my girls understand deployments and when their dad is away alot. My girls are 15 months and 12 years old, so they react in very different ways to their dad being away.

[jaz2512]

i used the calender idea last year when dh went to a deployment for 5months, i have a dd 6yrs, and dd 4yrs (also a ds 8 months but was preg at time of deployment). i made our calender out of a big piece of cardbord, and it was a count down one, had a pic of dhs head and moved it down every day, i ended up having to make 2 though(one for each dd). also when dh is away, get him to send them letters, just a note to say hi and that he loves them, this works well cos they know that he is thinking of them. the phone also becomes yours and their best friend. i found that when their dad comes back they are still a bit odd with them, thinking that they will leave again, but the girls will lern that daddy does come back. well good luck, how did they go?:tree:
jaimee

[lavenderpegasus]

if this helps or even if you need help any longer but here are my ideas to help....

1) If you have a printer print a picture of Daddy on to some transfer paper and iron on to pillow case so they can sllep close to dad...

2) Not sure how old your girls are but if your hubby can send them their own e-mails so there is something to look forward to, and maybe they can be read at night time and put under the pillow or you could print them off and pop them under the pillow so when they wake up there is a letter from dad

3) go to snap printing and get a life size print out of dad so they can take him places... in the car, to a friends place, out for dinner take pictures of them and daddy... make it fun and something they can giggle at...

4) send mail to daddy in Melbourne... It can be fun to send actual snail mail.

I hope they help.

lp in wa