Helping Kids Deal with an Absent Father

Well tonight, after a long wait, hubby has finally headed back to work. It always seems to work that way. Right when we start feeling the christmas crunch work picks up and away he goes again.
Good news is he should be back in time for Christmas. The kids were mostly O.K. with him heading back, except for our little princess who was just a little peeved that her daddy is not going to make it to her very first christmas concert. Also it seems that hubby will yet again be missing a birthday party for one of our kids.
This is the part of rig life that I really don't enjoy but it is what it is and we all learn to cope with it.

When you are dealing with little ones it is harder to swallow this particular part of rig life. We have discovered little things that do help the kids deal with dads sudden disappearence from thier lives.

Such as:

• A phone call every night or day depending on which shift he is working. Every day my husband calls home and spends a few minutes talking to each of the kids about their day. He makes sure to only focus on positives and basically leaves any disipline up to me. We do it this way because it is already hard on the kids and if he only ever phones home to give them trouble then they will eventually not want to talk to him for fear of getting in to trouble.
• Bringing home a special treat for each of the kids. On the way home my husaband always stops somewhere along the way to pick up a little treat for the kids. It is usually nothing big maybe a post card or a sticker book. The kids always look forward to dad returning because they know it will be a good time.
• We also let the younger kids help him pack his clothes when he is getting ready to leave. It makes it much nicer to involve the kids and gives them some special time with dad. It also helps to let them gradually get used to the idea that he is heading back.

I am sure there are numerous other little things that we do to help the kids deal with him going away but these are the big 3. We have plans to implement more ways for the kids to communicate with there dad while he is gone but until then a phone call and a few encouraging words can go along way with kids.

Dealing with Money Problems

Ok, let's face it rig life is great when the rigs are in full tilt and going stong but it is not quite so fun when break up rolls around and your rig is racked for 2 or 3 months. Sure there is rig repair and odd jobs you can do to make a little extra cash but that doesn't always cut it.

What can you do to prepare for the down times? Well the obvious solution is to save for the future while the present is good. In other words create a little savings to get you through the slow times.

A great way to do this is to figure out your monthly living cost. Include all your utilities, mortgages and other loans or credit cards. Multiply that amount by 3, so you are in the position to get through 3 months down time. Then divide it by the amount of paycheques you expect to recieve before the slow times come. If you have been on the rigs for any amount of time you probably more or less know what time of year your rig shuts down and for how long it is usually down for.

You may find yourself in a situation where the bills have piled up and you are so far behind that you think you will never see your way out. If you do don't panic and definetly don't feel bad about it. You are not the only one out there that has been overwhelmed with bills and debt. If you do find yourself in this position there are many options out there to get you out of a bind.

You can always try and consolidate your debts in to one loan to make things a little bit easier to handle. You can also look in to credit counseling in canada and see what they have to offer that might help you out.

The main thing is to remember you are not alone and there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Don't let money problems get you down just keep going and do what you can when you can.