Our kids are 6 and 4 years old.
In some ways, I do think they are the perfect age for all of this galavanting around the world that we are doing. They are in classes with children from all over the world so they are learning about different cultures and viewpoints every single day. I hope that this provides a mindset in them to be open minded and accepting adults in the future.
They also don’t dwell on the distance from family. To them, the concept of time and space is different and less upsetting. They speak frequently about their grandparents and things that happened back at home as if it happened last week and not last year.
With both of our moves, we have been very upfront with them from the start. We included them in the move; they helped me to sort out their toys and books, they learnt about the skyscrapers in Shanghai and they watched videos of children at their new schools.
With our move to Bangkok we have been able to go and visit the city recently, so they got to see the type of apartment we will live in and we took them for a tour around the new school. I am so proud to say that they seem happy and relaxed about the whole thing.
I think preparing our children for change is an important job for us as parents. After all, they will spend the rest of their lives coping with change. Moving from school to uni, relocating to a new city or country and coping as relationships with friends and partners change.
To say I’m proud of our two is an understatement. I look forward to seeing what the next few years hold for us.
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