Preparing Your Family for #BlogHer13 While You're Away - Taking Care of Kids & Hubbie

Blogher

This post is especially for mom bloggers coming to BlogHer 2013 in Chicago who have kids still at home, like I me.

It's the last weekend before BlogHer and a great time to think about this...

MommyBlogExpert.com

But before we do, each of us has our families to think about...

Having attended BlogHer San Diego 2011 and BlogHer New York 2012, this is my third BlogHer. I've already shared earlier posts about 8 Essential Tips to How to Pack Your Bags for BlogHer and Decisions About Smartphone, Tablet, Laptop, Camera, etc for BlogHer to bring to this conference. There's also the story I did How to Get Invitations to Brand Parties during the conference.

Now, I want to turn the attention away from what we're all doing before we get to BlogHer for ourselves to prepare for the biggest women's blogging event of the year. Instead, let's talk about what us moms are doing to prepare our families for the time we'll be away.

Me at the Lees Carpet booth at BlogHer San Diego

Like other typical mom bloggers, I'm with my family pretty much most of the time -- since I blog and do social media strategy counseling from my home office whilst also cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, carpooling and taking care of four teens plus hubby. In fact, we usually have a home-cooked dinner with the entire family each night. But lest you think I'm perfect, you should also know that I'm not the best housekeeper so it can be a tad messy around here.

BlogHer New York Fashion Show, MommyBlogExpert.com

So, when I am going out of town like this, my family does take notice. They may even whine just a little about what they're going to do without me (it's nice to know I'm loved and appreciated). I'm guessing I'm not the only one with a family that expects you to live up to your job description no matter what else is going on. Come on. Who else has family that sort of doesn't want you to be away from them, even for a day next week?

One thing I try to do to combat this quandry is prepare food ahead of time that my really really likes. That way they'll look forward to when I'm going away instead of bemoaning it. That's why I'm baking batches of their favorite Cowboy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies right now as I write this post this afternoon.

Making Cowboy Chocolate Chip Cookies Today, MommyBlogExpert.com

I still have some other things I want to do for them, like stock the refrigerator and cook some of the dishes they like most since -- believe it or not -- my kids have never been to a fast food restaurant and actually prefer homecooked (not frozen or pre-prepared). Another thought: like just about everyone else, I've got lots of blogging work and thousands of emails to go through before I can head off to Chicago.

How about you? How do you cope with all the pre-trip chaos at home? What are some of the things you're doing (or have done in the past) to get your family ready for managing on their own while you're at BlogHer? I'd love for you to leave a comment and share.

FTC Disclosure: I've attended multiple BlogHer conferences and have also been a speaker at this event. I have paid for my own 2013 full conference ticket and did not receive any compensation for this post. Thoughts here are my own. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.