As I write this, we are at the end of our first month. We are at the moment in Beijing, heading to South Korea in a few days, leaving China for the moment.
We are way over budget and a little tired, so we’re looking forward to Korea. One thing we want to do there is see and be more in nature and less in cities.
I think we gained significant experience, we stayed in apartments, guesthouses and hotels, we ate mostly local food, we took organized tours, all sorts of public transportation, night trains, high speed trains, minibuses and walked a lot.
Traveling with children, is not a simple task, but also not very complicated as the balance between the young travelers and the older ones can be met after some time, though there are still sometimes tension about what we, the adults, want and what the young audience wants.
Homeschooling
We probably could have done better job organizing this. In many days, there is just not enough time to invest in school work. In the mornings, depending on where we stay, we set up our day bags and try to leave in a reasonable time for the day’s excursion. Sometimes we come back early, then the children have time to write, draw or do some homework. Evenings are usually spent eating dinner, showers and by 9 we try to get everybody in bed. N usually crashes within minutes.
When we are out, M, whose general knowledge is far more superior to most people, explains and elaborates on what we see, A is mostly the best student as he mostly listens. D is at her best when the set up involves animals. N is still a tough nut, as his things now are slopped surfaces, Kung fu and hovercrafts. And he is always on the lookout for anything that would be useful for Squeaky Cheese. That said, we can’t really expect a 5 year old very interested in historical sites. We try to accommodate the kids' needs and interests in the activities or the sites we choose. Sometimes during long boring walks we try to ask them riddles and on-the-spot questions, but these are still short lived.
Arguments
One thing D, A and N are good at is to get into silly arguments. Most of them end when somebody hurts someone else. Most of all are on stupid things. D is mostly the accountant — ’why did he get 4 and I got only 3?’. A is great at getting offended for nothing and then play hide and seek, once we actually lost him for a while. N resorts to his regular disobedience. Sigh.
These arguments are usually stopped by us as soon as possible, I know some books say we shouldn’t interfere, but in a public place it is hard to ignore when your children are starting a feast fight or A gets overexcited. I guess this is part of family’s dynamics, but I hope it will improve further down the trip, when the children mature some.
Decisions
One side is trip planning. M and I spend our evenings, if not too tired, researching and preparing for tomorrow and for the next hop. Usually M has an idea what should we do next, while I look up the practicalities, options and schedule. So far it had been working well, though from time to time there are disagreements which are resulted by me backing out.
The other side is related to the execution of the plan. What do we have for breakfast and where? Same for dinner. How to get from A to B? Should we spend X on Y? The kids are hungry, should we have a snack or go into this restaurant or the other one? Usually we need to make these decisions on the spot, but the kids don’t always give us the time to make a proper decision. N will start with his ‘I’m hungry’ calls, D will do something to A and they will start bickering on it, then N will want to know if I dreamed of Squeaky Cheese (his stuffy hamster) last night and if I want him to become bigger.
Eventually we wander into a restaurant where we have enough confidence we can order some food, meaning there are pictures and prices, then we need to decide what each of the five family members wants, likes and potentially will eat.
By now, even though there is a complaint heard occasionally, the kids got used to the idea of walking, standing, looking at things for the whole day. Some places trigger interest like the Natural History Museum, some much less, like the Forbidden City.
To conclude, first month in China has been a good experience from a family travel point of view. We learned how to create a daily flow, when we should break a little, how to handle the local culture and different aspects of traveling here. I’ll share more on this on a separate story.
