Some of you new dads (as well as veteran dads) may have thought about taking a vacation without your child. Can we afford it? Who will watch our child? Should we take our baby with us? How long should we go for? Will I miss my baby too much? Will our child miss us?…were some of the questions that I pondered over and over again. In my thoughts was also a promise that my wife & I made to each other on our honeymoon 5 years ago. Despite what was going on in our lives, we promised to return to Hawaii for our 5-year anniversary.
Now that we knew we were going on vacation to Hawaii – do we take our one-year-old with us? We had already taken a vacation earlier in the year (on an airplane) with our son, and it worked out well. Selfishly, we wanted this trip for just the happy couple … without our baby. We are extremely fortunate to have such loving and caring families that live nearby, who were jumping at the chance to spend some extended time with our son. This made it easy for us to leave our son in such quality care & not have to worry.
Many friends asked this at-home dad if I would be able to handle an extended period of time away from my son. “I won’t know until I try”, I replied. The first couple of days were the hardest for me because I was used to our daily routine & bonding time together in NYC. My wife & I did not quite go the route of Skype on our trip (as some suggested), but it helped to receive frequent pictures via text/email to see what he was up to every day with our family. There were also a couple of days while we were away that I “almost” forgot we had a child.
Overall, I had a wonderful trip which allowed ample time to sleep late, nap, read, eat dinner uninterrupted, and roll with each day without much thought of a schedule. Sure, we missed our son, but the trip enabled our families to bond with their grandson in a special way. Now, back to reality!
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