What It's Like To Be A Pilot's Kid
People often ask me how my daughter feels about having a pilot for a Dad. The answer is, "it depends." When she was younger and hubster was flying commuter planes and then when he had to sit reserve for a week at a time away from home, she was NOT happy about it. Often we ended up with tears by the end of a multi-day trip and then she'd literally bounce off the walls as soon as Daddy came back home.
We actually coined an acronym for her behavior when Daddy was around: HFS. It stands for helpless female syndrome and it describes her complete inability to do anything without Daddy's help and constant presence whenever he's home. Activities that magically needed help when he was home that didn't when he was gone might include anything from getting dressed to eating dinner to getting a book off a shelf. My normally independent little helper would morph into a helpless princess as soon as the suitcase and flight bag crossed the threshold.
Now that Daddy is home more than he's gone and she's older, the situation has evolved. It helps that she's discovered that her Dad apparently has a super cool job, according to her friends, especially the boys. But the main difference is that she's older and doesn't have time to miss her Dad because he's home so much more.
Two Christmases ago, we also gave her my old iPad so she could start to do FaceTime with Daddy when she wanted to, as well as leave him texts and other things (he's especially fond of the poop emojis and other silly videos and pictures she fills up his phone with - not.)
She's also aware of the other benefits such as having Daddy home all day during the week, often for several days at a time, flight benefits and ohana treatment from the flight crews when we travel. She just flew unaccompanied minor for the first time and the crew, aware of her Dad's position with the airline, treated her like a princess the entire flight.
Here's how some other kids describe the situation:
We actually coined an acronym for her behavior when Daddy was around: HFS. It stands for helpless female syndrome and it describes her complete inability to do anything without Daddy's help and constant presence whenever he's home. Activities that magically needed help when he was home that didn't when he was gone might include anything from getting dressed to eating dinner to getting a book off a shelf. My normally independent little helper would morph into a helpless princess as soon as the suitcase and flight bag crossed the threshold.
Now that Daddy is home more than he's gone and she's older, the situation has evolved. It helps that she's discovered that her Dad apparently has a super cool job, according to her friends, especially the boys. But the main difference is that she's older and doesn't have time to miss her Dad because he's home so much more.
Two Christmases ago, we also gave her my old iPad so she could start to do FaceTime with Daddy when she wanted to, as well as leave him texts and other things (he's especially fond of the poop emojis and other silly videos and pictures she fills up his phone with - not.)
She's also aware of the other benefits such as having Daddy home all day during the week, often for several days at a time, flight benefits and ohana treatment from the flight crews when we travel. She just flew unaccompanied minor for the first time and the crew, aware of her Dad's position with the airline, treated her like a princess the entire flight.
Here's how some other kids describe the situation:
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