Leaving Kids/Family while flying

[FlyGirlFelicia]

Does anyone on here experience guilt for leaving their family behind while working? How do you manage if both parents work? Who watches the kids?

 

[PC12Cowboy]

FlyGirl,
are you just starting out in Aviation??? There are ways around the problem of children....like dont have any....lol and NEVER NEVER get married if you wanna werk for the airlines...or you'll get AIDS...lmao
Airline Induced Divorce Syndrome
The Cowboy

 

[semperfido]

...

 

[PC12Cowboy]

:O

 

[flybrowntails]

nice to know that there are as many goof-balls on the general threads as on other threads.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

Best to hold off on kids until one of you can stay home.

It just makes sense most of the time in our business. Unless seriously forced into it, I dont want anyone except my wife raising my kids. Its bad enough one goes away flying to make the money nevermind the other be gone all day also...

I have seen it both ways (day care vs at home moms/dads) and there IS a difference ,IMHO.

Most people I know who "cant afford to" are usually making big payments on 4500sq ft houses and BMW SUV's......but thats your choice of course.

 

[semperfido]

...

 

[FlyGirlFelicia]

Kids...

I just think that in this day & age, most people run a two-income household. I know we do by choice. I am definitely not a stay-at-home type and neither is my husband. I can understand being with the kids when they are younger, but who the hell wants to sit around the house all day once they are in school full time? An up side to all the travel is that you do get some lengthy downtime with them too when not flying. Can you imagine being a teenager and having two pilots for parents while in High School? Yikes, the thought kind of scares me, but I guess it can be done. Still, I'd like to think one can raise good kids with values while having a pilot career. Maybe that's the challenge.

 

[surplus1]

If you and your husband both believe that not staying at home is more important than a child, buy a doll and don't have any kids.

 

[GCD]

I was in a relationship with a co-worker once upon a time. She had three teenage sons and their father would only accept them on weekends, so they were alone at home while we were away. They found many, many ways to get into trouble. I did love the woman, but I ended the relationship over her sons. Not selfishly, because I tried to find solutions for her problem that she just would not accept because, "They were really good boys, you know."

I've heard through the grapevine, 15 years later, that two of the three have been to prison at least once.

Moral of the story? Don't leave kids alone if you want a career that keeps you gone 12-17 days a month. If you do want a career in aviation and kids, there are solutions. There are a lot of success stories of airline families. You know, dad and son or daughter end up working together at the same carrier (I'm betting that someone was home in these cases). There are as equal number of stories of airline kids going to prison (I'm betting that there was no one at home in these cases). It's just however you want to pursue your career vs. family.