DADDY CLAY: Hi honey, yes I’m in Dallas. Yeah I’m here for a bit. I’m actually running a little late. You know daddy and how he gets. He gets a little lost sometimes. I just wanted to know how you were doing. I just got to find the directions for this meeting. Oh crap! I love you.

DADDY CLAY: This episode is brought to you by BabyBjorn. No matter how far you roam away from home You can rest assured that your little one is safe and snuggled in here the baby sitter balance. So we’re talking about phoning home. This something that all dads have to do sooner or later. Even if you’re a working dad or a stay at home dad. Sometimes your away from the family. This is a necessary evil that we try to keep to a minimum but then you face the problem of phoning home. I’m not particularly good at this, its an area of weakness for me. So I’m hoping you will help me out by answering a few questions. First question, why the hell do we do it? Obviously we want the kids to know that even though we are away we are still thinking about them, and we love them, because the travel disrupts the normal situation of your family when everyone’s present. You need to reassure them that everything is ok. Do you have a regular time or an established moment to call.

CHILD: Hello? Who is it? Daddy who?

DADDY CLAY: I know I call typically around six o’clock when the kids are having their first cocktails. Because I know they will all be around chatting about their day. That’s a point at which I want to join the conversation. It works for my family, does it work for yours? I know some dads will call and try to do some kind of virtual tuck in. Maybe read a story to the child as their going to bed. That’s a risky one for me because I feel like if you miss your window next thing you know the kids asleep, you have not properly adjusted for time zones, and you got some really disappointed kids at home. But maybe the tuck in works for you. Do you have a time that’s best to call home?

DADDY CLAY: Next question, how do you avoid the dead air when talking on the phone? It seems like it happens to me, I get the phone it gets passed over the child by my wife and next thing you know I’m talking to a mime. I can sense there is somebody on the other phone nodding. And I’m wondering how do you draw a child out into a real meaningful conversation, because the objective here is to talk and have some kind of exchange for them to know that you care about what they are doing, and you want to know what’s up in their lives even though they are not there. This is a tough thing to do but then again the key is probably knowing the schedule. You have heard me talking about this before. If you know what’s going on in their life you can ask specific questions. I also think its ok to ask a really silly question. Something you know that they will respond to. If they got a favorite game or a favorite animal. Ask a silly question about what their teddy bear is doing today.

DADDY CLAY: Can technology enhance your phone call home? Can different brands of phones whether they have a camera or video or features that can actually improve the conversation going on with your kids. Do you ever use still photography to send pictures of where you are? As a way of enticing them to communicate with you. Do you use video conferencing when calling home to your kids? I found personally that my kids get distracted by their own image and making faces so I don’t really get to have a conversation. But I’m curious, does it work for you? And finally my oldest son is 10 and he’s totally transported by texting. He thinks it’s the coolest thing in the world. So I find with him if I text two or three text to his mothers phone addressed to him he finds that really thrilling. My guess is that conversation with him was more meaningful than me asking him questions about how his day went on the phone so for him I text. So if you got answers to any of my questions about whether there is a set time, a way to draw out conversations, or technology that helps you phone home, please go to dadlabs.com and answer these questions, please I need your help to have better conversations with my kids when I’m out of town. Besides that there are lots of other great conversations going on at dadlabs.com. You want to be apart of that community. Once again thanks to BabyBjorn, its very reassuring that you know you have the very best gear back at home when your on the road. Thanks very much BabyBjorn, and we’ll see you next time on Quality Time.