Thoughts on travelling with kids

Two opinions occur to me when I think about our trip:

1. Crazy - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, full-time parenting in a space smaller than a studio apartment and with foreign languages, strange foods and no set schedule.


2. Idealistic - We'll never get this time with our kids back. We'll learn so much: new cultures; to be flexible; that the world is big; there's more than one way to do things; tolerance for other cultures.

Elements of both views exist in our reality. Neither of us stayed home full-time with the kids before (exception being short stints for maternity leave). It has taken the better part of 3-months to settle in to full-time parenting; to get used to the idea that we are not contributing to the "greater" good of some project for a corporation, but are spending "quality" time as a family.


Just as there are Murphy's Laws for every aspect of life, there should also be a set of them for traveling with kids. I propose the following (feel free to chime with edits or missing laws):

1. Your toddler, who has done fine without a nap for several days in a row, will suddenly, undeniably need one just when the rest of the family is really starting to groove on an activity.


2. Even though the kids will have eaten well all day, they will suddenly be ravenous when in public. Meltdowns often cummulate with a very high-pitched, loud out cry of "...but I'm hungry!" The children's exuberance over free samples at the grocery store will be embarrassing as the sample lady looks at the kids with pity and gives them more.


3. No matter how frequently you have used the bathroom facilities, just when there is not one in the area, your child(ren) will have to "go." Now.


4. Kids still live for TV.


5. As in normal life, when you finally get on the phone, the kids have some urgent need that can't wait. Only, when traveling in Europe, it's a bit more of an expensive interruption and when on VOIP, it is confusing to the other person who suddenly hears muffled cries in the background.


6. Every playground sighted will be met with happy cries of "playground! playground! playground!" even if it is the same playground you've been camped at for a week.


7. No amount of time on the playground is quite long enough.


8. It's always the right season for ice cream.


9. If it's on the ground, your kids will want it. Inclusive of leaves, flower, trash, broken jewellery, broken toys. All are treasures to them, not to be parted with.


10. Boundaries will be pushed. Tempers will flare. You will hear yourself raising your voice more than you had hoped or planned.


11. Kids are loud. No matter how many times we have taught, asked, begged, pleaded to "lower your voices" they will still pipe up louder than anyone else in the place, usually at the most inopportune time.

That said, there is no greater joy then hearing your two year old giggle uncontrollably (even if it is in response to a TV show) or to hearing your six year old exclaim "cool" when some piece of art, culture or history sinks through.



To hear the kids attempt a "thank you" or "please" in German, French, Italian or Spanish warms my heart. To see the response on other people's faces as the kids are trying is almost as warming. People are truly appreciative of any effort you make to fit in with their culture.



If I've learned one thing about parenting in the past three months, it's that I raise my own voice too often. Hearing your own voice coming from your six year old can be a rather unsettling experience. I growl at the kids too much - I need to remember to praise them more and correct them less.



I've learned that in running around, trying to survive in a corporate life and help manage a household and raise kids, that I've forgotten how to have fun. I've forgotten what it means to laugh at the hilarity of a situation and get over it instead of fuming about it. I feel like I'm just starting to grasp the true meaning of our trip and it goes far beyond bonding as a family - it's also finding ourselves again.



My hope is that the kids will remember some of the positive attributes of the trip. I hope they remember a little of what it's like to be a foreigner as they grow up. Maybe it will help build a higher tolerance for people around us as the world shrinks.

For me, I'll keep looking for my sense of humor. I temporarily found it the other day as Sophia and I played a leaf-jumping game on the way home from the post office. The two of us giggling, chasing after leaves that were blowing in the wind so we could stomp on the mercilessly. Impervious to the 30-degree weather. And the wind, for that matter.