Saturday 28-08-2021 – The absent father

My husband Sudip is a regional manager for a pharmaceutical company and his territory covers the entire Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. He is traveling for about 20 days in a month. Even when he is here, he has to spend a lot of time at the office. We have 2 children aged 15 and 12. They hardly get to see him and from the last 2 years, since his work has increased, his interaction with them is very little. My children withdraw from interaction with him as they feel that he does not know what is going on in their lives. They also seem to be complaining more when he is not there. What can I do to improve the situation?

In today’s world, traveling has become an essential part of many jobs and this creates a difficult situation for all the three parties concerned – the father, the mother who is left with the responsibility and the children who are deprived of the father with whom they can have a day-to-day interaction. For the children, it becomes a very tough situation as they themselves are going through the rough period of adolescence and the absence for long durations makes it awkward for them to conduct themselves when they meet the father. A lot depends on the father as to how he views the separation.