The Wandering FamiLee

This was the one and only concern that we had when pulling the children out of their wonderful school and setting off for life on the road. Would they make friends? Would we come across over families? Would they miss their friends at home? Will they lack social skills and find it difficult to integrate again? Would they fight all the time being together if they don’t have space and friends around?

Making friends

Will they meet other children? Absolutely. Will they make friends? Most definitely. Will those friendships be long-lasting? They certainly will.

If like us, you are considering taking your children travelling and are concerned about their opportunities to socialise and make friends, please know you’re in good company. We all have this often huge concern lingering when setting out.

Hopefully this post will ease your concerns and inspire you to take the leap.

At schools, clubs or in social settings when people are gathered together by a third party, there is a sort of dance that we all carry out. We ask polite questions, stand around smiling, tentatively hoping that someone will want to speak to us or play. Sometimes you have things in common and those interactions develop into friendships. Sometimes, very good friendships.

When you’re travelling there is a short cut to the process. You’ve already passed the dancing about part and you’re straight into the interaction. From observation, children are even quicker to this than adults with a first interaction of ‘hey, do you want to play….’ You already have things in common…you’ve made a huge decision to travel. You’ve been or are going to the same places. You’ve stories to tell, questions to ask. You laugh over similarities, perhaps discuss differing experiences. All the while the kids are off playing. They’re not even bothered about the small talk. They know they already have a bond.

And, there’s an abundance of friends out there to make. From a UK perspective vanlife is more popular than ever before and following Brexit, we’re all travelling further afield than Europe. “Are you doing the Schengen shuffle?” – a popular question amongst fellow Brits. We do regularly meet families from the UK but in our experience there are an abundance of families from other European countries and further afield who are travelling to the same places your are.

The wonderful thing about children is that language barriers do not exist. Children of all languages play together, all the while learning from each other.

I can confidently say that our children of 6 and 10 have made life long friends. Soul brothers and sisters.

Prioritise play

We decided to prioritise play with other children, especially if we had been on the road driving for a while. By prioritising play, we allowed the kids to postpone any home ed scheduled for that time or allowed them a bit of grace of their chores. The kids are after all learning through play.

Growing confidence

We found that our children’s confidence grew and grew. Talking to people they have never met before had become the norm and they are always ready to tell people about their experiences but also listen to others. Without direct comparisons to peers, they are confident in themselves, their own personalities and see others as individuals too. There is no pressure on them to have to be or do anything, they are free to explore being themselves.

Unlikely friends

On occasions there have not been other children to play with. Instead the bond has been with adults. We have met so many lovely couples and have listened with interest to their life stories. Our kids have made wonderful granny and grandad-type friends who have enjoyed their company and have taught our kids a thing or two as well.

Staying in touch

We certainly did not say a final goodbye to friends at home either. Obviously there’s Facetime, messenger, email and Whatsapp to keep the kids connected. We also sent post cards and letters and ensure those special connections continued. I’m pleased to say that when we return to the UK, for the kids and adults alike, it’s like we’ve never been away!

When you go ‘home’

When we return home, we all fall back into place. The children connect again and all is well. Everyone see’s the growth in the children, not just in stature but in personality too.

We’re trying to write posts on this blog from the questions people tend to ask us. If you have a question or would like to know more about our experience get in touch.

Thanks for reading x