I own my company and often work while on vacation. My kids made me realize it's not healthy.

• Janine Leghissa, 59, from Wollongong, Australia, traveled to Bali for her daughter's wedding.

• She runs her own jewelry business, so she took her laptop to work while on vacation.

• It caused friction within the family, who had to ask her to log off.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Janine Leghissa. It has been edited for length and clarity.

When my 29-year-old daughter told me she was getting married in Bali, I was thrilled. It'd be a chance for me to spend quality time with all three of my adult children.

My oldest son is 30 and lives in Canada with his wife and my grandson, who is now 3. Although we FaceTime weekly, I'd only met him twice in person before. I couldn't wait to get to know him better.

My youngest son is 20 and still lives with me, but he has his own life, so this would be a chance for us to hang out properly, too.

I travel to Bali regularly for work — I run my own jewelry and clothing business and get some products made in Bali, so I'm used to visiting and working from there. So I decided to bring my computer to our family trip and do some light work. It was clearly a mistake.

I set some loose rules at first

I'd actually even set myself some loose rules before I set off — I told myself that I'd just check emails in the morning and I'd only answer important questions.

That quickly snowballed, and I broke both of my self-imposed rules.

I employ a team of seven, and as the vacation progressed, they seemed to be taking my "always available" policy a bit too literally. Every "ding" was a new crisis. "Help! We're out of stock of this ring" was a common query I was answering.

It was my fault, too — I was checking in with them more than I should've been.

The wedding went really well, and then my daughter went off on her honeymoon. The rest of us were supposed to spend family time together for the remainder of the holiday. But this is when I started getting even more fixated on work.

My kids got upset with me

My oldest son started noticing how much I was distracted by my laptop and work inquiries and began to get upset that I wasn't spending that time with him, his wife, their son, and my grandson.

The thing is, he gets it — he works for me. He's my project manager and he answers customer inquires that come through social media, so he understands having to talk to people when doing his role whilst away overseas. But he also managed to check in less often and reminded me how people would understand if I didn't get back to them immediately.

But I feel responsible to my customers if they ask questions that need answering. I need to learn to trust my team and know they'll respond without me always checking. I realize I need to empower them more than micromanage them.

It got to the point where my oldest son was really quite hurt. He took me to one side and asked if I was actually going to spend time with him and my grandson or just work the whole trip.

I felt guilty

At first, I brushed off my oldest son's concerns.

When he mentioned it again, I realized he was serious. And he had a point — they'd traveled all the way from Canada at great expense and wanted their grandson to get to know me better, yet I wasn't very present.

I started feeling really guilty. I knew my son was right, the laptop needed to go away. I needed to soak up the rest of this rare time with my family. When I put the laptop away, everything changed — tension evaporated, and we started to relax together. He was right to call me out on it.

We've planned our next family trip to Canada. I'm going with my daughter and I've learned my lesson. Work travel? Sure, be available. Family vacation? Time to set boundaries. So I've set mine: a remote team meeting once a week and one hour a day max to check in on anything really urgent in the morning before everyone wakes up. Other than that, the laptop stays closed.

I'm there to be with my grandson, son, daughter, and daughter-in-law. I'm going to soak up their company and properly see the life they're building in another country.

Read the original article on Business Insider