If you're one of the estimated 10 million business travelers with children, two heartbreaking questions are probably familiar to you: "Do you really have to go?" and "When are you coming home?" According to a recent survey by American Demographics, nearly 90% of business traveling parents say it is difficult to cope with being away from their home and family.

In his new book, The Business Traveling Parent, author Dan Verdick teaches parents how to overcome travel angst and use business travel as a unique opportunity to bond with their children. The following activities are just a sample of the dozens of tips and hints featured in the book. Business travel may take you away from your family more than you would like, but it also gives you a unique chance to play games and do activities with your children. You have the chance to have fun and learn with your children in special ways. These games and activities will make the time away seem shorter and the time together more enjoyable.

Itinerary Swap

Give your child copies of your flight itinerary, daily agenda, and any other materials that detail your trip schedule. Ask him or her to create his or her own detailed itinerary for the time you're gone, showing what he or she will be doing during and after school and on weekends. This way, both you and your young "assistant" will know exactly where the other will be during the days you're gone.

Create a Keepsake Box

Together with your children, decorate a folder, binder, or even a large shoebox for them to store any art or schoolwork while you're out of town. Then, when you return, you can make an event of going through the box and talking about the contents. Did someone do well on a test? Or make a special art project? Encourage your children to include any items they choose - paintings, writings, or even a pressed flower or leaf.

Treasure Hunt
Materials Needed: Paper and pen for writing notes and a hidden treasure!

First, pick out a ""treasure"" for your child. It could be anything - a new book, a toy, or movie tickets. Hide the treasure in a secret place. In another spot, hide a note that hints to where you've hidden the treasure. In yet another spot, hide a note that hints to where the first note is. In this way, work backward to create a "trail" of three or four notes. Just before you leave on your trip, stick a note on the bathroom mirror, on your child's pillow or in another obvious spot that hints to where the first clue can be found. While you're winging your way to your destination, your child will relish going on his or her own custom-made treasure hunt!

Letter on Tape

If you're traveling for an extended time, ask your child to send you a "letter on tape." He or she can speak into a tape recorder, telling you all that's been going on at home and at school. (You'll need to bring a portable cassette player to listen to the tape.) Encourage a creative older child to give a radio news broadcast of the day's events or to write a radio play, complete with an exclusive interview with the family dog, different voices and accents, or homemade sound effects. It can be comforting to hear your child's voice and sense of humor while you're away.

Secret Agent E-mails and Faxes
Materials Needed: Pen, paper, imagination!

Children love creating secret ways to send messages, and a young secret agent can use e-mail, letters, or faxes to get the urgent message to you, the undercover spy. Quick codes are fairly easy to create, and you may want to have your child make a code for you to decipher, or you can send your own coded message that he or she has to decode. Or agree to a code for a given trip, and send the top-secret communications back to headquarters while you're away. Here's a simple way to make a code that can be varied in dozens of ways: Write down the alphabet in a straight line on a piece of paper, and then start another alphabet below it, but shifted one letter to the left. For example, A would be B; B would be C, etc. For different codes, you can shift the coded alphabet two or any number of letters or write backward so A is Z, and B is Y.

Calling For Story Time
Materials Needed: Two copies of a storybook.

When you leave home, give your child one copy of the storybook you have chosen. You can surprise them with a new title, or use an old favorite. During your trip, call home every night around bedtime, and read the book with your child over the phone. Hearing your voice can be comforting just before bedtime, and can reinforce bedtime rituals while you're on the road.

Celebrating Milestones

If your business travel meant that you were away for a birthday, big game, recital, an appearance in a school play, or other milestone event, have the night you come back be "special event" night. Re-celebrate the birthday, or talk about the big game. If your spouse videotaped the event, watch it together. Celebrate the little milestones, too - your child trying something new, losing a tooth, or learning more of the alphabet.

Travel Place Mats
Materials Needed: Construction paper, pens, crayons and markers, art by your child, travel mementos (optional), a copy store with a lamination machine.

Together with your child, glue paper artwork and other materials to construction paper, and color and decorate as you please. You can also add odds and ends from your travel - postcards, stationery, or other paper items you bring home. Write the date of their creation on each one. When your designs are complete, take them to a copy center that has a laminating machine and have them laminated. They will then be water and food-proof, and able to be cleaned after use.