Kids are incredibly resilient. With the right combination of supportive pillars around them, they can adapt well to most situations.
However, despite their incredible adaptability, I’ve tried to make the transition from ‘housed’ to ‘houseless’ as gradual as possible to set the kids up for the hike in the most positive way.
Over the last six to eight months, there’s been a slow ‘transitioning’ from living a regular life in an apartment, to preparing to live outside in a tent, and I thought I’d share with you some of these actions and welcome your thoughts and idea.
- Since stepping away from my business in September 2022, I’ve been full time with the kids. After a brief time at kindergarten for Max, the decision was made to adopt an unschooling approach so for some time now we’ve been spending all day every day together, as it will be on the hike. This does bring challenges and test our patience and tolerance of each other at times! However, I strongly believe that the bond of a family is created during these early years and spending our time together feels like the most natural thing in the world. (I’d like to say here that I know this isn’t for everyone; there’s no right or wrong way, simply what each family unit feels is right for them, and this is just our choice.)
- As we’re going to be snuggling up in a tent as a family of four each night, some time ago we put Max and Sofia together in one room so they get used to sleeping together, and we lie with them each night as they fall asleep. We’ve always laid with our kids to put them to sleep, but perhaps we would have begun pulling away from this with Max, who’s now four. However, I love it and have been happy to keep this going!
- We’ve never been ones to shower the kids with toys or clutter their rooms with stuff, as we believe that their imagination and creativity are stimulated by less not more and by nature rather than manufacture. However, we’ve stripped things down even further and have been slowly gifting items we won’t take with us. They’ve actually become very receptive to this and are very proud when we donate a toy for another child to play with. After a recent overnight stay in hospital with Max, we also delivered some toys for other children to enjoy during their stay.
- Alongside their toys, we’ve been gifting the clothes that we won’t be taking…or I should say here regifting! We’ve been incredibly lucky to receive so many clothes for the kids over the years, we’ve simply passed them on to the next loving home. They now have a box each, with all their clothes in and dive into their box each morning to choose their outfit for the day. Less clothes makes this so much simpler!
- Getting Max and Sofia involved in every step has been important so we’ve been identifying items that they want to take. Max has kept the cars that he got for his birthday packed away to keep them “safe for the hike”! and he even selected a pair of underwear and stated “these are my important underwear for the hike”! We’re trying to use as much as we have, buying as little as possible but they were both in need of some new clothes so they’ve been involved in choosing these too.
- What they’ve selected will go in their ‘activity box’ (with the exception of the clothes) and we’ll supplement this with other key things like books, paper, crayons, chalks, string etc… and of course they’ve each chosen their favourite cuddly toy for the adventure!
- We’ve been using our camping cutlery and crockery at meal times. They’ve become quite attached to these already. The other morning, I accidentally presented Max’s breakfast to him in Sofia’s camping bowl but managed to avoid a serious meltdown by moving it swiftly to his bowl!
- Since last year we’ve been enjoying some practice hikes to explore the practical, logistical and emotional demands of what we’re about to embark on. Admittedly, we haven’t fitted in as many as we would have liked due to other appointments and commitments, however they’ve given us a great insight into how things can and will roll on the road.
- In addition to the above actions, we’ve been talking about the trip A LOT so they know what we’re doing and how, with as much comprehension as a two and four year old can have. Max is asking more and more, “when is the big hike?” and is very understanding of the decisions we make together.
I’m under no illusion that this will create a seamless transition for our little adventurers and not having a house will certainly take some time to adapt to, but I hope these small things will help to bridge the gap.
I’d love to hear any top tips you’ve used to ease a transition for your little ones!
With love
Laura x
