The thing about the family on a bike that got me wondering, primarily, was the age of the kids; I think they are 8 and 10. That seems to be an age where peer interactions would start to matter more. And, though they are seeing a lot of the world, they are mostly transient… not really settling into any place long enough to take part in the way people are living (society, community, relationships, responsibilities, etc.)

But, again… “what is normal?” And is “normal” such a great thing anyway? I really don’t know. I can’t say that Jeff, Hunter and I have stayed on a “normal” path since we’ve been fairly nomadic. We stay in one place for a year or two, then move on. That may be the worst thing ever for a kid… but we sure are having fun!

You’ve got no worries; I can tell from your blog that your daughter is having a ball!

Take Care, Alice!

I have internet for a few days so I thought I would play a bit of blog catch up and there I am, mentioned in this very post! Thank you for the link!

As someone who has travelled around for the last year with my young daughter I of course only have good things to say. My daughter interacts well in many situations, finds wonder in the new experiences / scenery she sees every day. In addition, as a family we are building (hopefully) a great bond during this time. HOWEVER, once she reaches school age we hope to be settled somewhere on a more permanent basis because I do also feel that it is important to form long-term bonds. But this really could be up to the age of 10 at my estimation … most of my lasting friendships were made around that time.

From my own experience and from conversations with travelling families across the globe, I really don’t think that this lifestyle is damaging. I think it is a great way to show children the greater world and help them to become more worldy, broad-minded and accepting of many different people/cultures in the long-term – surely a good thing?

I would also like to pose the question of ‘what is normal?’ … normal is so many things to so many people.

The most important thing to me is that my child has a love that is constant and secure to give her the confidence to go on in life and achieve whatever she wants to. And far from living out our own dreams with little regard for our daughter, I think it’s more that we are being true to ourselves by remaining ‘ourselves’ thus giving our daughter a true and real picture of who we are and teaching her what is important to us.

Great and thought-provoking post!!! sorry if I’ve rambled!!!!

Alice
[rq=1917,0,blog][/rq]Caravan Stuckage and the Love of Horses