Parenting abroad
Make room for two languages in family life
Build language into the relationships and activities your family already values, without turning every conversation into a lesson.
27 articles
Parenting abroad
Languages, friendships and growing up with more than one place in mind.
Parenting abroad
Build a small shelf in the family’s home language
A home-language shelf can be small, familiar and interesting enough to return to.
Parenting abroad
When a child listens more than they speak in a new language
Pay attention to how a child understands and participates, while making it easier to join in without being put on the spot.
Parenting abroad
Give long-distance grandparents something to share
A shared book, a small project or an ordinary detail can give a long-distance relationship more to work with than repeated questions.
Parenting abroad
Shorter video calls can leave more room for connection
A call can end while it is still going well. Length is not the only measure of time spent together.
Parenting abroad
When your child misses a friend from home
Missing an old friend does not need to be solved by finding a replacement. Help the existing friendship take a form that distance allows.
Parenting abroad
Make the first invitation easy to accept
A small invitation with a clear time and place can be easier for another family to answer.
Parenting abroad
A playdate with a language gap
Choose activities children can understand by watching, and keep adults available for the words that matter.
Parenting abroad
Choose the family traditions you want to carry
Keep the parts of a tradition that carry meaning for your family, then adapt the rest to the home and calendar you have now.
Parenting abroad
Celebrating when the local calendar is different
When an important family date is an ordinary working day locally, decide which part needs the date and which part can move.
Parenting abroad
Let children answer “Where are you from?” in their own way
A child’s connection to a place can be more complicated than the short answer an adult expects.
Parenting abroad
Make a photo book that connects places and people
Choose photographs that explain the relationships, routines and places a child wants to remember.
Parenting abroad
When siblings settle at different speeds
Compare each child with their own recent experience, rather than using a sibling as the measure of how a move should go.
Parenting abroad
Leave a little space after a demanding school day
The journey home can be a transition rather than a debrief. Find out what helps your child arrive before adding another demand.
Parenting abroad
Help a teenager keep old friendships without missing the new place
Old friendships can remain part of a teenager’s life while new routines and relationships gradually find their place.
Parenting abroad
A small family ritual that can move with you
Choose a repeated moment that needs little equipment and can survive a change of home.
Parenting abroad
Planning a birthday before you know everyone
Choose the kind of celebration your child wants and the scale you can manage before deciding how many people to invite.
Parenting abroad
Give children choices about their new room
Offer choices that affect how the room works, while keeping spending, safety and rental limits with the adults.
Parenting abroad
Let a child help with words without making them responsible
A child may enjoy sharing a new word. Adults still need their own way to handle important conversations, decisions and private information.
Parenting abroad
Ask about belonging without asking for a verdict
Questions about belonging are easier to answer when they concern a place, a person or a moment instead of the whole move.
Parenting abroad
Save the ordinary days in a family scrapbook
A scrapbook can keep the small details of family life that disappear between the bigger photographs.
Parenting abroad
Answer children’s questions about unfamiliar customs
Children notice differences. You can help them ask about a particular practice without turning it into a judgement about a whole group.
Parenting abroad
When a new friend is the one who moves away
A friend’s departure changes the new place too. Help children say goodbye and decide what contact they would like afterwards.
Parenting abroad
Prepare children for a visit to the place they left
A return visit can be familiar and different at the same time. Give children a picture of what this trip will actually include.
Parenting abroad
Keeping familiar entertainment in a new routine
Familiar programmes and games can stay in family life, with clear arrangements for access, timing and the rest of the day.
Parenting abroad
Keep a child’s school life visible when you do not share the language
Build an adult route into school information so your child is not the only person explaining what happens there.
Parenting abroad
A family check-in that is not an interrogation
A brief check-in can help the household notice what needs adjusting without asking everyone to deliver a report on their feelings.