A message home

One of the joys - and occasional pains - or working from home is that I get to see lots of my two boys. It has really spoiled me as it makes me quite unused to not being around them.

This week I was in Frankfurt with work. It's an annual event for me and one that I quite enjoy. However I'm conscious that me being away for a few days seems like quite a long time for them. It probably seems even longer for my wife who has the wrangle them single handedly for a week.

Last year I hit on the idea of leaving them a little daily message, just a little hello, a bit of Clip Art and cryptic clue pointing to a little treat that I had left them (not that cryptic - they are five and three). The treat can be a craft item from Wilkinsons, a few sweets or a Lego Minifigure (top prize for the day before I come home). It's as much for their mum as for them. They get inordinately excited at such little things at their age and it buys her a little extra time and niceness from them before they hit the cranky stage in the day.

Clip Art: kids love it

This year I've been Skyping them for the first time. I've never really bothered before as the phone seemed contact enough. I think they liked the experience although I could tell they were more interested in seeing themselves onscreen than me. I'm not as entertaining as Messrs Maker, Tumble or Bloom, the characters they are more used to seeing on screen.

It's also a little embarrassing when they call during the working day and you have to go from kicking ass and taking names boss to being Silly Old Daddy. Actually, who am I kidding? I loved it, and it was almost as much of a stress reliever as a large glass of fine German beer.

Almost. Prost!