family life | F E AT U R E
AWAY
9 ESSENTIAL TIPS FOR MOVING YOUR FAMILY ABROAD
WE GO written by Christa Melnyk Hines
Whether you’ve been assigned to another country for work or long to globetrot with your family for other reasons, you may wonder how realistic an international move is, especially with kids.
The idea isn’t as far-fetched as it may seem. According to four-time expat Jessica Drucker, an expat coach and author of How to Move Abroad and Why It’s the Best Thing You’ll Do, nearly nine million Americans have made the leap to live in another country. “American expats would make up the 12th largest state in the United States if counted together,” Drucker says.
KNOW YOUR “WHY.” Before pulling up stakes and moving your family abroad, consider the reasons why you want to relocate to another part of the globe. Perhaps you’d like to introduce your children to another culture or language.
Or, maybe you’d like to “find somewhere with a slower pace of life where you actually have time to see each other; where a student having weapons at school is unheard of; or where you can travel to cities and countries nearby that would have been impossible to find time to visit while based in the States,” Drucker says. Emily Maher, an author coach, teacher and a mom of a six-year-old, has lived in Bogota, Colombia for the past 10 years. She says she dreamed of living in a place that was “stimulating and exciting” ever since she was a child. “When I was in my 20s, I moved around a lot within the United States and other countries, but never quite felt at home until I met my husband and we fell in love in Bogota,”
Maher says. “I loved how the culture was warm and caring on the one hand and yet it was urban and stimulating at the same time.”
CONSIDER YOUR CHILD’S AGE AND TEMPERAMENT. To determine how well your child might adjust to an international move consider their age and stage of development. A teenager who is centered in their peer relationships may have a harder time adjusting to a new country compared to a young child whose parents are the center of their universe. If your child is more of an introvert, research suggests they may struggle with more
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nervousness or anxiety in the midst of a major change. “But there are also surprises,” says Katia Vlachos, an expat transition coach currently based in Switzerland and the author of A Great Move: Surviving and Thriving in Your Expat Assignment. “Perhaps the introverted child will be better able than the extroverted one to deal with the unavoidable loneliness of the first few weeks after the move. You know your child best.”
PLANNING ESSENTIALS. Whether you’ve been gifted time to plan your move or if your move is immediately pending, it’s crucial to get your paperwork and finances in order before you go.
