Bringing your Baby on a Business Trip

Finding a balance between being a parent and being a professional can seem impossible. Each one is a full-time commitment, and despite your best efforts to schedule accordingly, there will be times when you simply can’t alternate your attention between them the way you’ll want to.

 

It’s during these challenging moments that any good parent or professional learns the importance of multitasking. Mind you, it is by no means an easy lesson, I myself figured it out the hard way.

 

Travelling even a short distance with a small child can be far from pleasant, but international trips create new levels of. You have to ensure your child is properly vaccinated to cross the borders, you have to ensure you pack all necessary supplies, and you have to accept that tending to your child when they get fussy on the long flight is going to be inconvenient for yourself and the other passengers.

 

I was not looking forward to any of that when I brought my nine-month-old daughter with me to India, but circumstances gave me no other choice, so I did my best to prepare my infant for the excursion ahead.

 

For one thing, my husband and mother were coming along as well, and agreed to do their part to take care of my daughter on the trip. I also made it a point to only purchase sealed bottles of clean water from the hotel or trusted markets, as I wasn’t about to risk my daughter’s health by letting her drink tap water.  While I was initially worried about finding food for her to eat, I was lucky enough to build a good relationship with the manager of a local restaurant, who went out of their way to prepare shredded apples and other small portions that were safe for my daughter to eat.

 

On top of that, I conducted plenty of research on the hotel we’d be staying at, choosing a reputable establishment close to the businesses I would be visiting so I would remain as close to my child as possible should anything occur.

 

Thank goodness I did.

 

Despite spending long days in business meetings working with different companies, my daughter was always in the back of my mind. What was she doing at the moment, how was her food sitting with her, when would I be done and get to spend some quality time together, things like that. I couldn’t tell you how happy my husband and I were when we concluded a conference and headed back to the hotel at the end of a long day, and you can’t imagine how distraught we were to find my daughter wasn’t there waiting for us.

 

We didn’t understand, my mother agreed to spend the day watching her, but neither one of them could be found. My husband and I were worried, we’d heard the stories about kidnappings, but we weren’t about to let panic get the better of us. In times of crisis like these, keeping calm and creating a plan of action are essential to resolving the issue. As such, when calling my mother’s phone yielded no response, we split up and each searched a different half of the hotel, keeping in constant contact with one another should we find anything.

 

It was a stressful search, but a fruitful one.

 

After explaining the situation to the hotel supervisor when we ran into her in the lobby, she explained that my mother had visited her earlier and asked about getting some fresh air. It turned out my mother took it upon herself to take my daughter up to the rooftop access, despite our clear instructions to not go outside nor leave the hotel. Thankfully, the hotel supervisor was kind enough to lead us to the rooftop, where we found my mother and daughter in a cloud of smog so thick I could barely see them in it from the doorway. I can’t imagine why my mother didn’t follow my instructions, nor why she chose to linger with my daughter in such an unpleasant atmosphere if fresh air was what she was after, but the important things is that we were all reunited safely.

 

Whether it’s negotiating contracts or locating your loved ones when they wander off, being a parent and a professional means encountering a lot of close calls. Just as babies are prone to hiccups and spitting up, so too will even the most carefully laid out plans encounter hitches along the way. Some will be preventable, other entirely unexpected, but what matters most is that you approach each one with a level head. I know that’s asking a lot, the combination of jet lag after flying all day only to constantly tend to your crying child throughout the night to will exhaust anyone, it’s more than most people could hope to handle.

 

However, if you’re reading this, if you’re determined enough to take building a career and a family at the same time seriously, then you’re not most people. You don’t let difficulty stop you from achieving what you know you’re capable of, you don’t let challenges hold you back. No, you tackle your problems intelligently and efficiently, you build a team you can trust and handle issues as they come, and more than that, you set an example your children will be honored to follow.

 

Sweet Tips with Ally

 

Be as prepared as possible: research locations, ask for assistance, and plan out all necessary supplies beforehand.

 

Create a support network of friends and family you can rely on, as well as establishing both clear rules to follow and means of communication to stay in touch.

 

Accept that problems are going to happen, but acknowledge that you can resolve them. Don’t let yourself fall victim to your own emotions, as they will distract you from identifying solutions that you could otherwise achieve when you stay focused.