Truckers who are parents

How old are the little ones? That actually makes a bit of a difference in how you can approach it.

 

That is going to be my biggest issue.... I have a 3 and 4 year old, my little one is a little attached to me. So I know it is going to be her hard for her and me.

 

The younger they are, the harder it is.

 

I gave up OTR after 2 months in the last 2 months of 1998. They were, at the time, 1 & 4, I think it was harder on me leaving them than the other way around. I went back into the Navy and when I retire in Summer 2011, they will be close to 15 & 18 and have been thinking about going back into driving. I have obtained my degree and could use that as a teacher, but I do miss driving cross country and separation from my children will not be so hard. Since then WIFI & cheaper Cell Phone calls have come about and if I chose to drive once again, it will not be as hard as before. But like the thread before, the younger they are the HARDER it was. I have not regretted leaving OTR as I watched them grow up in the last 10 yrs. Remember, they grow up once and you may never get the opportunity to see certain things they accomplish ever again if you OTR. But now the feeling of driving once again is stronger than ever and I have seen the equipment, hours of driving and home time change over the years. But do what is best for the family in the long run, just tell the little ones that you will be back and won't remember that you were gone for so long, you will remember, but once you are back in their life, it won't matter, what will matter is that you are HOME!!

 

Been there done that doing otr with kids at home. It didn't work for me. I missed them to much. I quit driving went to work as a janitor. Now that their on their own I am bac otr

 

When my wife went on the road otr our son was not quite 4. I ended up being a stay at home dad. I had really messed my knee up while installing sat. dishes in Wisconsin in the winter( long boring story). I couldn't work she went otr, the only thing I could do was be there whenever he needed me and be as much fun to be around as possible. She sent post cards to him from everyplace she went and also got him fridge magnets, we still have most if not all of the magnets and post cards. He didn't like the fact that mom was gone but he dealt with it really well. The hardest part was trying to explain why mom was gone.. kids sometimes think that it was something they did, or that the person gone doesn't love them... it's kinda like a divorce just reinforce the fact that you love them very much and will miss them as much as they miss youand that you hitting the road has nothing to do with anything they did.. good luck and god bless with the young ones.. be safe for them

 

my son was 6 when i started driving, and before that i was always there, so as far as emotional bonding, we were pretty well set. him being a mama's boy (as was his father) made things alot less complicated. when he was 12, i took him out with me for a couple weeks, it was cool. now he's almost 15, i have a job that gets me home every night and our relationship shows no signs of me being mostly gone for 5 years.

for a while, his mom did the map thing with stick pins and a sharpie, but that got old after awhile, killed a little time for them though.