How to Give Kids Stability When a Parent Travels for Work 

Parenting Perspective 

Disrupted Security, Not Defiance 

Children often show restlessness and clinginess when a parent travels because their sense of security feels disrupted. They may not yet understand the reasons for absence, but they feel the loss of routine presence. As the parent at home, you can help them by reinforcing predictability and maintaining emotional connection. 

Keep Daily Routines Consistent 

Start by keeping their daily routines as consistent as possible. Simple things like meals at familiar times, bedtime rituals, and school routines can anchor them. Predictability provides children with a sense of stability even when one parent is away. 

Maintain Connection With Their Father 

You can also maintain the connection with their father by involving him in small but meaningful ways. This could include scheduled phone or video calls, sharing drawings or messages, or letting the children help prepare a “welcome back” moment. These gestures help them feel that even when physically distant, their father remains emotionally present in their lives. 

Validate Their Feelings 

It is also important to validate their feelings rather than brushing them aside. When a child says they miss their father, acknowledge their sadness and reassure them that it is natural to feel that way. By naming and normalising their emotions, you help them learn healthy coping skills. 

Offer Closeness and Reassurance 

Lastly, give them opportunities for closeness with you. Sometimes clinginess is their way of seeking reassurance that you are not leaving too. By offering extra cuddles, calm words, and shared activities, you strengthen their emotional safety. Stability in your presence becomes the anchor they can rely on during these periods. 

Spiritual Insight 

In the Remembrance of Allah Do Hearts Find Rest 

Absence and separation can feel heavy, but Islam guides us to frame such moments with patience, reassurance, and connection to Allah. Allah Almighty states in the noble Quran at Surah Al Ra’ad (13), Verse 28: 

‘…Indeed, it is only with the remembrance of Allah (Almighty) that (one can (and does) find peace of mind and heart.’ 

This Verse reminds us that true stability for both parent and child comes from anchoring the heart in Allah’s remembrance. Teaching children short Adhkar or simple duas when they feel anxious can shift their energy from worry towards comfort in faith. 

Raise Them to Be Strong Believers 

It is recorded in Sunan Ibn Majah, Book 1, Hadith 79, that the holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: 

‘The strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, while there is good in both.’ 

Strength here includes emotional resilience. By helping children navigate a parent’s absence with steadiness and trust in Allah, you are raising them to be strong believers who can handle change with faith. 

When one parent travels, it can feel like a gap in family life. Yet by keeping routines, nurturing closeness, and weaving in remembrance of Allah, you offer your children both practical stability and spiritual grounding. In time, they will learn that love and connection are not broken by distance but held firm by trust in Allah.