Most of us dread taking business trips. It's tough enough to stay connected with your children when you're working eight hours a day. Try to phone roughly the same time every day. Equally important, make sure you don't phone during a child's favorite activity. Draw your child out with specific questions.
Many children feel uncomfortable chatting on the phone.
Have your spouse fill you in on the details of your child's science project at school that day, then ask your child about it. Communicate through pictures. Every day, fax your child a drawing of what you did that day, and have him or her do the same. It will be a good starting point for phone conversations with older children. She has been a contributing editor of Parenting and Working Woman magazines, as well as a regular contributor to The New York Times.