Cindy is a long-distance truck driver. Carlos is a business consultant who is on the road four days a week. Emily works in Chicago during the week and comes home on Fridays. Sam has just been deployed again to Iraq for a six-month stint. What these folks have in common in addition to their travels is that they are physically around their kids only a few days a week – they are part-time parents. These situations can pose challenges to the traveling parent, the family, the couple: How to stay emotionally connected; how to actively participate when you’re not in the home?

Here are some tips to help make this work:

Make sure you’re both on the same page regarding parenting.

Though their actual parenting styles may be slightly different, this is about Cindy, Carlos, Emily, and Sam – and their partners – working together and having the same expectations and priorities for the kids, agreeing on the same bottom lines and consequences. This is important because it is all too easy for the parents to fall into their own silos – you handle your job; I’ll handle the kids.