As I read my husband’s post on how elated my little son was on seeing him at the airport, I must say his behavior at home during the 3 days when his papa was away was far from that. He didn’t ask “where’s papa?”, nor was there any hint that he missed his papa. In fact he acted as if his papa was never a part of his life. Which got me a little worried actually. My gentle prodding of “where’s your papa?” yielded no reply as he busied himself with his toy cars.

It was therefore not without reason that our little boy was super elated to see his papa. Just before picking his papa, we had lunch at one of the cafes in the airport. Halfway through lunch, a boy came in with his parents and they took up the table beside us.

Being in the “I don’t care I just stare” age, my little son stared blatantly at the happy family. The boy started to act up (probably enjoying the attention afforded by my son) and talked incessantly with his parents, stealing glances at my son occasionally to see if he was watching. As their food arrived, the boy’s father lovingly cut them into smaller sizes for his son and fed spoonfuls into his mouth. All through this my little son was watching. Then suddenly he turned towards me and said “My papa is coming back?”.

I guess that was when he “remembered” his papa. Seeing the boy and his father probably made my son miss his own papa as these realize his papa hasn’t been around.

But I guess if my husband had been gone 3 months instead of 3 days, the reception at the airport would have been entirely different. Out of sight, out of mind. My husband should be thankful if my son would even open his mouth to call “papa” then.

So for the past few days, my wife has to take on additional duties to take care of our cheeky boy. I have no worries that she’ll handle well without me. And she did.

The only one little concern I have was that with me gone for a few days, my son would get used to the idea of not having me around, and hence not miss me!

On the day I returned, my wife brought him to the airport to pick me. And honestly, I was pleasantly surprised that when he caught the first glimpse of me, he jumped happily, screaming through the separating glass "Papa papa!"

My wife later told me that he said, "I wanna go hug Papa, I wanna go hug Papa!" while I was waiting to collect my luggage.

I am just glad that not much (love) was lost during the few days of absence. But I am also aware that time equals investment for our children. The more time we spend with them ,the deeper the relationship.

Simple theory, and no short-cuts. Out of sight, out of mind. I believe this is so especially for children.