Reality of travelling with kids

After over a month in Mexico we have learnt a lot about travelling as a family.  I thought it timely to write an update that describes how things are going and not just the good bits. 

One of the reasons for taking this time out as a family was exactly that - to be a family together. The 24/7 together thing has its challenges and we have definitely gone through a number of phases, more recently how we all manage the constantly change of location. Now for Tim and I this is the best part, seeing new places, meeting new people, trying new things, the boys however don’t always think the same. 

This is my list of learnings on travelling with kids so far:

1. Life without routine is tough. Bedtime was always our most consistent routine at home, bath, bed, book, twinkle twinkle, sleep, always at 8pm. Even in the mountains we managed to keep this consistent and we were all in bed early! Mexico is totally different, we eat later, everything happens later, everyday is different. We are spending a lot of time laying with the boys til they fall asleep, understandable considering we are in our 16th home of the trip. School work or rather picking the right time for school stuff has got harder, we are trying short bursts but it really only works when we do things in the morning, Dexter will sit down after a bit of protesting, he is spending time doing maths with Tim at the moment and once he gets into it he enjoys it. We also need to not be so hard on ourselves about their ‘learning’ as there are so many things they are experiencing as part of the trip, but they do need to keep reading and neither seem to be the bookworm I am!

2. Hangry is a real thing. Meltdowns happen, particularly for Archie. We are on a budget so we try and cook at home when we can but also looking to try different foods where we are. Often we have recommendations on where to try but we have mistimed food plenty of times which leads to hangry Archie = misery for all.

3. We all need the opportunity to connect with friends back home. We are missing home and our friends, facetime is amazing and wifi has been pretty good in most places so we have all been able to chat to people at home. Recently the boys have been worried that their friends will forget them so sending messages and calls has been good so they understand that friendships can still exist when you’re in different countries. 

4. New places, new things can be overwhelming. What we think is exciting isn’t always the same for the boys and visa versa. Down days are important for everyone to reset. Also talking about what each of us want to do when we are in a certain place - making sure it’s not just mum and dad making all the decisions, not quite there with equal decision rights yet...

5. Everyone must be responsible for their stuff. No matter how many times we check we still keep leaving things behind. We have minimal luggage now and the boys had to make some choices about what toys to bring as it had to fit into their rucksack (along with their school books), this is not just about travelling with kids as I think I’m the one that has left more things behind... shampoo, toothbrushes, sunglasses... 

6. Airports are getting less stressful. The kids know what to do, how to get through security, empty out water, get the bags checked, snacks to hand. We always give ourselves loads of time which eases the stress. 

7. Screens are our nemesis and our saviour. Love to hate them - for all of us. Necessity to book travel, activities, restaurants and reading books as we are not carrying loads around with us. We are playing lots of uno, card games and we have a few other travel games, but the kids get obsessed with their iPads and will spend hours building their worlds in minecraft. Again sometimes great when we need a break.  We don’t feel we have the right balance and it’s something we struggle with. We are going to try 48 hours of zero screens for all once we get to Puerto Escondido.... 

8. Brotherly love? The boys are spending so much time together which is working well (most of the time) they are playing games, searching for animals, swimming together. They are also fighting, punching and kicking each other, they know how to wind each other up and get each other into trouble. Patience is hard. Trying to be the calm parent is challenging and to be honest there have been times when we have lost our temper and then everyone is unhappy. I really hope that their bond as brothers is closer from this trip but we really look forward to places where there will be other kids so they can just play. 

I'm sure certain things will get easier (and new challenges will arise) over the next 6 months, there will be more laughter, more tears and more memories......

#francisfourontour