Despite being very busy, my husband does an amazing job at staying connected our two children. He juggles his schedule each year to help me host our annual pancake breakfast, he tries his best to be at all of our kids sports activities and recitals - he calls and writes emails when he is away on business.
Recently, he was away for an extended business trip. My daughter sent him smileboxes daily and he emailed them kisses and called as he always does. Then one night we put our heads together - his not so technical and mine a bit more technical and decided to download skype and use our built-in computer cameras so he could say hi LIVE!
What an amazing experience it was for the kids. They could talk to daddy, they could see his hotel room and he even showed them some of the treats he had picked up for them. That LIVE time was worth the time it took for us to get our two computers talking.
If you have a husband or wife on the road and don’t already take advantage of the technology the computer offers us - jump in. Skype is easy to use for both voice and video. So if you don’t have a camera you can still talk for free using your computer. Smilebox is another great way to communicate. The kids can send little messages via cards and slideshows - easy to download and fun to use. If you have a scanner, try scanning in a drawing from the day or a returned test from school.
It takes a bit of time but it is soooo worth it!
Smilebox:
http://smilebox.canadianparents.com/
Skype:
http://www.skype.com
