7 tTips Yo Make And Keep A Connection With Your Kids Long-distance

It’s never easy for children to be separated from their parents, whether it’s because of a brief business trip or a move across the country due to a job or personal reason. However, after divorce the stakes get higher because children of divorce often feel the sting of rejection after one of their parents move out.

In this excellent blog posting Terry Gaspard offers these tips to make long-distance parenting work after divorce:

1. Send your children funny or interesting postcards once a week. If you have more than one child, some group cards are acceptable. Make sure to make the messages positive such as “I’m looking forward to seeing you soon!” or “Good luck on your spelling test.”
2. Call at different times. While it’s a good idea to have a regular time to call your children, spontaneous phone calls can be a nice surprise and help your children to feel that you are thinking of him/her.
3. Use text, Skype, e-mail, and Instagram in addition to regular phone calls. Be sure to send photos and ask questions about their week such as: “How was the sleepover at Madison’s house?”
4. Get to know your children’s friends and be sure to invite them on vacations and outings. Meeting the parents of your children’s friends can be a big plus because they will feel more comfortable if you invite them on a weekend excursion such as a camping trip or to stay at a hotel.
5. Tune into your children’s passions and engage in small talk about it. Research on-line and in-person ways to engage with them around these interests.
6. Be sure to spend plenty of alone time with your children. If you have a new partner in your life, don’t introduce them unless you’re fairly sure it’s a permanent relationship.
7. Ask your children what’s the best way to stay in touch. For instance, would they prefer that you travel to visit them? Or, do they want to come see you? You may find that this changes from time to time so be sure to have regular check-ins with him/her.