Description

Daddy Clay seeks the wisdom of Road Warriors everywhere: what makes for a great call home to the kids? A predictable routine? Drawing kids into conversation? Cool technology? Dads staying in touch while on the road, aka DadLabs.

Transcript

Daddy Clay: Hi honey, yes I'm in Dallas. Yeah I'm here for a bit. I'm actually running a little late. I actually don't know, you know daddy and how he gets. He gets a little lost sometimes. I just wanted to know how you were doing. Yeah it's good, I just got to find the directions for this meeting. I think I have Oh crap! I love you. This episode of Quality Time is brought to you by BabyBjorn. No matter how far you roam away from home you can rest assured that your little one is snuggled safely and comfortably right here in this the baby sitter balance. So we're talking about phoning home. This something that all dads have to do sooner or later whether you're a working dad or even if you are a stay at home dad. Sometimes you're away from the family. Necessary evil, we try to keep to a minimum. But, then you face the problem of phoning home. I'm not particularly good at this. This is a little area of weakness for me. So I'm hoping that you will help me out by answering a few questions. First question, why the hell do we do it? Obviously we call home because we want to make sure that the kids know, that even though we are away, that we are still thinking about them, and we love them, because travel disrupts the normal situation of your family when everyone's present. So, you need to reassure them that everything is okay. So I sort of know about that one. But, I got another question for you. Do you have a regular time, an established moment when you call? Child: Hello? Who is it? Daddy? Daddy Clay: I know that I call typically around six o'clock, right when the kids are having their first cocktails. Because I know they will all be gathered around and everyone will be sitting around chatting and talking about their day and that's a point at which I want to join in the conversation. That works for my family, does it work for yours? I know some dads will call and try to do some kind of virtual tuck in. Maybe even read a story to the child right as their going to bed. This is a risky one for me because I feel like if you miss your window, next thing you know the kids asleep, you have not adjusted properly for the time zones, and you got some really disappointed kids at home. But maybe the tuck in works for you. Let me know is there a specific time that's best to call home? Daddy Clay: Next question, how do you avoid the dreaded dead air when you are talking to your kid on the phone? It seems like it happens to me, I get the phone gets passed over the child by my wife and the next thing I know, and I'm talking to a mime. I can sense there is somebody on the other end of the phone nodding at the phone as I talk. And I wonder how you draw your child out into a real meaningful conversation, because the objective here is to talk, to have some exchange for them to know that you care about what they are doing, and you want to know what's up in their lives that day even though they are not there. Was a tough thing to do, but again the key is probably knowing the schedule. You have heard me talking about this before. If you know the schedule you know what's going on in their lives and you can ask specific questions. I also think its okay to ask a really silly question. Something that you know that they will respond to. If they got a favorite game or a favorite animal. Ask a silly question about what their teddy bear is doing today. Daddy Clay: My former question. Can technology enhance your phone call home? I want you to know different brands of phones whether they have a camera or other features that actually improve the conversation that's going on with your kids. Do you ever use still photography or send pictures of where you are, as a way of enticing and to communicate with it. Do you use video conferencing when calling home with your kids? I found personally that my kids get very distracted by their own image. They are going just making faces so I don't really get to have a conversation making faces. But I'm curious, does it work for you? And finally my oldest son who is 10 and he's totally transported by texting. He thinks it's the coolest thing in the world. So I find with him if I send two or three text to his mother's phone addressed to him, he finds that really thrilling. My guess is that that conversation with him is more meaningful than me asking him questions about how his day went on the phone. So, for him I text. So, if you got answers to any of my questions about whether there is a set time, a way to draw out conversations, or technology that helps you phone home, please go to dadlabs.com and answer these questions. I need your help to have better conversations with my kids when I'm out of town. Besides that there are lots of other great conversations going on at dadlabs.com. You want to be apart of that community. Thanks to our sponsors BabyBjorn. It's very reassuring that you know you have got the very best gear back at home when you're on the road. Thanks very much BabyBjorn, and we'll see you next time on Quality Time.