Any tips on how to help my son handle having his daddy away?

[Nikkinik88]

Hello all

Im recently new to this fifo thing. My partner has been away on his first fly out for two weeks now. Our son is a wonderful little man, we often receive comments from teachers/friends saying how polite and sweet he is.

Unfortunatly since my man has been gone he has random tantrums. Mainly when I ask him to do something. He also has moments where he cries and asks for his daddy. It breaks my heart every time.

Im just curious to see if any of you have been experiencing this with your kids too and if you have any tips? Thank you

[MothersMilk]

How old is your DS?

[Nikkinik88]

3 and a half.

[hopefully2]

My husband also just started doing FIFO. He did 4 weeks away this time. My dd is 4 and I have a 7 week old. He left when ds was 4 weeks. Obviously a very challenging time. To help my dd I arranged special activities that I do just with her. Also my DH and dd FaceTime (iPad to iPad chat) every afternoon between 4.30 and 5. I have also started a sticker book to reward good behaviour. 3 stickers means a prize. It is heart breaking when she says she misses him but I know that when he is home their time together will be better quality time. You could also do a calander check off so he can physically see how much longer it is till daddy comes home.

If you come up with any other things I would love them too coz it's been a huge learning curve.

[lightsaber]

No FIFO but military: my mum gave us a picture of our Dad to carry around and kiss goodnight when he was out to sea or on assignment. Mum also had us write/draw things down about our day so we could show dad when he got back. Bear in mind this was the 80s when calls via "satellite" were VERY rare.

Perhaps getting his Dad to record a few storybooks that can be played to your DS so he knows Daddy is missing him too and isn't off having fun without him.

We had Dad's voice on tape - Skype or facetime is the most awesome but with FIFO time zone differences and shift work might not be possible so prerecorded stuff like stories or lullabyes or jokes are always helpful help too!

[april mary]

my son was 3 in may and my husband has been working away for 4 weeks at a time for 18 months. he has a photo of him and dad together that we put in a special frame that he chose and wen he misses his daddy he asks to hold it and has fallen asleep with it at times. i found skyping with dad wasn't an option as he ws workin overseas and it was too late, so my son would get upset rather than happy to see him. we have been doing this for a while now and my son has calmed down alot, we also wave to every aeroplane we see in the sky, cause daddy is on apparenlty. i think it is very confusing for them but the more positive u are about it really seems to help, we always talk about how hard daddy works and talk about wat he might be doing or eating for dinner and stuff like that and that helped too.