Our summer has been go, go, go! Non stop planning, packing, having fun at our destination, unpacking, then planning the next trip. We started the kid’s summer break off with a 4 day stay Callaway Gardens in East Georgia, then we stayed at a beautiful beach house in Gulf Shores, Alabama for a week, now we’re preparing for a 5 day stay at The King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia this Saturday and then I’m going to New Mexico for a business trip for 3 days, then we’re going to Callaway Gardens again for 4 days again. A week after that trip I am scheduled to have surgery so I guess you could say that I’ve been trying to squeeze a lot of fun into a short summer break because my surgery is recovery time is cutting two weeks off of potential travel and fun time with the kids.
While my husband is not able to travel with the kids and I on all of these trips this summer and thus can’t read to her every night, which he and my daughter both love, I came up with the fabulous idea of using Skype to allow him to be right there with her in bed and read to her at night even though he’s hundreds of miles away.
Skype gives my kids the ability to see and talk to their dad while we’re away without him. Seriously, Skype is a life changer for me. Having my husband help put the kids to bed even though he’s hundreds of miles away is great and couldn’t be done without Skype.
Skype Tip #1: How to put a child to bed via Skype
- I get my daughter all ready for bed. She brushes her teeth, flosses, rinses, goes to the bathroom and washes her hands and face.
- Then I tuck her in bed.
- Next, I put my laptop in the bed next to my 6 year old and connect to Skype.
- After that we call her Daddy on Skype.
- He picks up from wherever he is, via his iPhone or laptop.
- He talks to her about her day then he asks her to pick three stories from her pile of books by the bed.
- He reads the three books to her and then he SINGS to her like he always does at home.
I think it helps with making the child feel comfortable as well. There’s something about actually seeing the person you’re talking to that’s important, that’makes them feel more comforted than just hearing their voice over the phone. When I travelled to England last summer, my nephew wanted to Skype every day. Talking on the phone was not sufficient enough for him.
What a great idea! And a pretty great daddy, too!