Image credit: Rachel Denning

As a person who is seeking, or already living, a location independent lifestyle, you’ve surely dreamt of a life filled with adventures. Perhaps sailing ’round the world, taking an extended trip to Asia or biking across Europe.

Then reality hits: your dreams are derailed by one ever present fact- you have children.

The idea of blending travel with children may seem daunting when you consider the requirements of your ideal adventure- passports, visas, sleeping accommodations, bikes, luggage- multiplied by each child.

But the truth is, more and more parents are opting to make their families location independent, despite the perceived (and sometimes very real) difficulties it may entail.

From year long sailing escapades, to 5,000 mile biking excursions across Europe and Africa, to six week road trips through Central America, with children ranging from newborn to teenagers, parents worldwide are finding it completely possible to “have their kids and take them too.”

As Timothy Ferris says in his book The Four Hour Work Week (a must read for any LIP):

Far from being a reason not to travel and seek adventure, children are perhaps THE best reason of all to do both.

Seeking Adventure Together Creates Family Unity

Our family began seeking adventure together in 2007 when our oldest was 4 and the youngest of our four children was only 3 months old.

As a result of our experiences, the little things as well as the monumental journeys, our family enjoys a special closeness. There is a unity that develops as you share mind-and-skill expanding escapades.  Doing fabulous things and hard things builds team spirit and a belief that together we can meet any challenge.

While our children have made friends all over the globe, their most constant companions have been one another. They’ve learned to be their own best friends.

Though we have our families’ support, for the most part, my husband and I have to rely on each other to turn our dreams of adventure into reality, resulting in greater cooperation and unity in our marriage.

Our shared, extremely unique, experiences with each other have created a bond that binds and defines our family. Our adventures are a big part of our family identity.

Seeking Adventure Generates Lifetime Memories

“Remember when…” is one  of our children’s favorite openers as we reminisce together about the beach we visited, the friends we met, the food we tried or the ‘bad’ experience that turned out all right.

There’s no toy, gadget or material gizmo that could match the memories we’ve created as a family. While we may not own a lot of “stuff,” what we do have: the time to build relationships and memories, is of far greater, and more lasting value.

My daughter, now nearly eight, still remembers her ‘one day’ friend in Mexico who taught her how to swim when she was four and the day when she, mommy and daddy all went bungee jumping.

My six year old son recalls with enthusiasm the ‘bat cave’ we explored in the Dominican Republic and the euphoria of our dolphin excursion in Panama.

Adventures as a family provide some of the greatest and most life changing experiences; making memories that you and your children will cherish for a lifetime.

Seeking Adventure Builds Confidence And Creates Growth

It’s been said that some people have ten years of experience, while others have one year of experience, repeated ten times.

Personal growth comes through new experience. Just as a baby grows and builds confidence through each new sight, sound and skill mastered, we as adults can join with our children and experience similar development as we adventure together.

Seeking out new experiences as a family forces everyone, young and old, out of their comfort zones and into new territory that results in personal growth and team development.

We’ve seen our children’s confidence and skills, not to mention our own, sky-rocket  as a result of adventures such as:

• Bungee jumping in Costa Rica
• Border crossings
• Exposure to new cuisine
• Learning a new language
• Hiking (with little legs) to remote beaches
• Driving a motorcycle
• Coming face to face with extreme poverty and disease
• Learning to let go and have ‘freedom from possessions’

If you’ve thought about pursuing your dreams of adventure but have hesitated because of your little, or not so little, ones perhaps it’s time to reconsider the plausibility and possibility of tackling such a feat.  Let your children become the catalyst instead of the impediment to your dreams; you may discover it’s best thing that has ever happened to your family.

Are you already location independent with children?  Share some of the best experiences you’ve had as a family and what it is that keeps you chasing your dreams together.

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At your baby shower, your mother-in-law suggested you use the sling to keep the baby happy while you vacuum, but as soon as the ink was dry on baby’s first passport, you donned said sling, tied your bundle of joy on your back and took her to places your in-laws only saw in coffee table books.

Now, as you approach the potty training years, the family wagers you’ll be back before they can say disposable underpants. It’s a tough choice:

Move into your parent’s basement for a couple of years while you toilet train and can hit the road again or keep the kid in diapers until she’s old enough to analyze the schematic you’ve drawn up to get rid of them?

You certainly wouldn’t be crazy enough to toilet train while traveling…would you?

Yes, potty training on the road can be as dangerous as it sounds. Thankfully, there are a few hints that can help you roam where you want to, even while ditching the diapers:

No matter how (or where!) you attempt toilet-training your toddler, readiness and consistency are the biggest factors…

The One Week Method

With nothing more than a pack of “big kid” underpants, hard flooring, and a mop bucket, you can potty train your child in one week. Even if you are renting a condo in Cannes you can relax because clean-up is easy on marble floors. Investing a week for initial potty training is a big payoff in ease-of-travel dividends. Check out this free e-book for more on the one week method!

Teach Flexibility

If your son will only sit on his Elmo potty seat, don’t expect him to relieve himself behind a birch tree along the Denali Highway. The best way to increase Junior’s comfort level is to introduce a range of toileting options to reduce his anxiety and expand his horizons.

You will see many strange and exotic things on your travels, including toilets…

• The self-cleaning model with rotating seat in Germany
• The shower basin with foot pedestals in Italy
• Outhouses in national parks
• Bidets in Paris

…encourage your child to try them all.

If your travels will take you into the woods or places where there are few man-made options, be sure to teach your child responsible outdoor etiquette.

If you hold the little trainee securely, there’s no need to add a potty seat to your baggage. However, if you are in the market for a portable emergency potty, we recommend the Inflatable Potty, featured in our Travel Gear On The Go article.

Don’t Rush

Every child is highly likely to have an accident in an unfortunate place, like the foyer of Her Majesty’s Royal Theater in London. The wise parent expects this, prepares for this and does everything she can to minimize the likelihood.

It is very important, when traveling with little ones, to leave plenty of time for regular WC stops during your outings. If you rush to be first in line at the box-office, you are more likely to ignore your child’s important cues, which can lead to a hasty cleanup in front of a well-dressed audience.

If the Worst Happens?

Not “if,” but WHEN the worst happens, there is nothing to do but shrug your shoulders at the spectators and calmly break out the cleanup kit. With a few wet wipes and an extra pair of pants (never forget the extra pants!) you’ll be back to the Ancient Etruscan artifacts in no time.

Whether you are biking across the Americas or touring every major museum in Europe, with foresight and determination, diapers can successfully be cast aside.

Potty training is not the end of travel; rather, it is where real freedom begins.

Have you successfully toilet trained your kids whilst traveling or are you nervous about the impending prospect? Feel free to ask your questions and share your best tips!

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A recent post on the NuNomad blog talked about the pros and cons of travelling with kids at different ages. It’s an excellent post, packed with useful info for location independent parents – or those planning a nomadic lifestyle.

One of the things it brought to my mind was the need to keep your kids connected with the world beyond. But how do you do that safely in a world where the internet has brought not just benefits but real dangers to children?

In talking to friends recently, some of them were amazed that my seven year old had her own email accounts, but for me it was an obvious way for her to connect with friends and relatives abroad. She is an excellent reader and enjoys writing emails, so I just had to find a way to make it easy and safe.

To do that, I created an email account for her on my own domain, using Google Apps. I like Gmail because it has a great spam filter and since I limit what she signs up for there shouldn’t be any worrying emails in her inbox in the immediate future. She liked the fact that she could have a child-friendly theme (featuring dolls and ice creams, I believe). I disabled chat and contact sharing, but will review the chat decision when she’s a bit older. For phone calls, she uses my Skype account when she needs to chat.

Like most kids, my daughter loves games and many of these are online. I adapted some guidelines from an internet safety book someone sent me to create some rules that will keep her safe. She knows that she is not allowed to sign up for anything without asking first (and when she does I check the parental information thoroughly to see that her privacy is guaranteed).

For now, I am banning forums though she can use the private messaging system on some of the sites. I’ve found the Disney sites such as Toontown and Pixie Hollow to be pretty good, as is Moshi Monsters – and of course Cbeebies/CBBC is a great site for educational and fun games.

I have enabled Google Safe Search on both browsers on her computer to prevent her from accidentally discovering anything inappropriate. I’ve found this a better option than the parental control software I used before because it allows her to follow her interests while still staying safe (rather than blocking almost everything, which frustrated us both, especially when I kept forgetting the unlock password).

I’ve told my daughter about the importance of keeping personal details secure (no giving out her real name, address, phone number or email address). She’s been very good at sticking to the rules.

For older children, consider a contract with your child about observing the rules for internet safety – a good starting point for an online safety pledge is here.

The final aspect of making sure she stays safe is being in the room (most of the time) when she’s on the computer. That way I can use my parental sixth sense to spot any potential issues early. How do you handle internet and connectivity issues for your location independent children?

Are your children ready to make the leap into location independence?

So you’ve decided to become a location independent parent. That means your children have to become location independent too – and for some children that could be a big problem.

For many younger children, routine and familiarity are everything, while for older ones, it’s attachment to their peers that may prove a sticking point. It’s a real worry for parents, who may worry that their children may not settle into the nomadic lifestyle and won’t be happy when you move abroad.

The lesson I learned when moving from the UK to the Caribbean is that preparation is everything. Here are some strategies you can try…

Check Out Your Location Independent Destination

Many people spend a long time planning for their next move. If this is you, and you’re planning a semi-permanent relocation to somewhere that you visit regularly, schedule a family trip to that destination to ‘sell’ it to your kids.

Plan some fun activities that they will remember when you return to your current home, so they will have something to look forward to when you move. If you’ve got friends with children, plan some get-togethers so that when your children arrive in the new location, they already know someone there. That will ease the transition for them.

Living Space

Do you already know where you’re going to live? Then show it to your kids. If a visit to the location is feasible, then do that, otherwise use Google Earth and other web resources to give your kids as much information as you can about the country they are moving to.

Use the Internet to find photos of the place you will be visiting, research fun activities in the area and generally get informed about your destination. With older children get them to help. They can create a wish list of things to do when they arrive and prepare a scrapbook to tell their current friends about where they will be going.

In our case, we were relocating permanently (more or less, anyway) and we were able to show our daughter the house and her room. We took photos back to the UK with us so she could show them to her friends. We started this process about nine months before the move.

Education

How are you going to educate your children?

You may already be homeschooling, in which case you will be doing the same thing in a different location. If not, let older children help you research schools and visit them all when you arrive (preferably before the start of the school term or semester).

Hook up with a couple of expat groups who may have children in the same schools. This will give your kids a small circle of friends to start with.

Focus On Fun

If your children have any favourite activities then find out where they can do these in the place that you are going. It will help them to feel that they are not leaving their entire way of life behind.

Also, explain to your kids why you are going and what benefits you think it will bring. Kids have a sense of adventure – so appeal to it!

Preparing To Move

Get your children involved in the preparation process. Even children as young as three can make decisions about which toys to take and which to leave in storage. We gave our daughter a suitcase of her own so that she could decide what would go with us and what would come later.

Be sure to explain that toys which are being boxed are not being thrown away but saved. Our daughter was also happy to help wrap items for packing (even if we had to add some extra tape later!).

Keeping In Touch

The great thing is that these days, moving halfway around the world doesn’t have to mean losing touch with your friends. Photos of the people and places they love really help, so get that camera out!

If you have email, a laptop with a webcam and Skype, your kids can talk to friends and family back home, which will make the transition easier. When my daughter first used a webcam, she was very excited. And now, she regularly Skypes with a friend in Gibraltar while they play an online game together.

Talk, Talk, Talk

For us, the key aspect of the whole thing was communication. Our daughter had lots of friends whom she’d known since birth and was a bit upset about leaving them. All our friends talked to the children about the fact that we were leaving, but would still be in touch.

We spent lots of time together, took lots of photos and exchanged Skype IDs. Since we’ve left, several of my daughter’s friends have come to visit and we’ve been back to the UK once. And although she missed her friends at first, and still talks about the UK, she’s settled well into her new life.

Photo credit: Japs – TheGypsy)