We recently posted up a live video on Our Facebook Page with the title “Big Announcement” and people were making guesses before we even got to the good part. “She is pregnant!” with a reply shortly after “What? Who is pregnant?”
Of course our friends and family always ask us: “When are you guys going to have kids?” and many readers ask us “What if you have kids? How could you travel then?”
Well the truth is, at this time we have no plans to have a baby and the announcement was actually about travel! If we did decide to go down that path, it wouldn’t end our travelling lifestyle, it’s just not something we want in our lives right now.
Will We Ever Have Kids?
We have always been the type of people who live by the “never say never” philosophy, so even though we don’t see any children in our future, that could always change. Our life is an open road and we don’t allow speed bumps and stop signs to keep us from turning whichever way we please.
If we suddenly feel the overwhelming urge to have a child, then our entire minds may change suddenly and we might just go for it. It would just be another amazing adventure and one that we couldn’t possibly understand until we experienced it.
Our life is always vulnerable to massive change. Before we started travelling, we had just recently bought and furnished a condominium, thinking that would be our life plan… but things changed quickly and soon we sold everything and left on a year long trip.
We never really “planned” to teach English in China. We got the idea after volunteering in Myanmar and while we were travelling in China we just decided to answer an ad on a hostel wall and voila.
We love that our life is full of spontaneity and excitement and while a kid would require some advanced planning, we are not fully against it, but at this time we just don’t see it.
What if we did have kids? Would we still travel?
Absolutely. 100%. Our lifestyle would not change entirely just because we had a kid. I can hear the comments at the bottom of this post already. “You can’t travel with kids full-time!” “They need to go to school!”, “Children need normality and routine”, “What about their education?!”.
Those are all valid points to be made, but we strongly believe that the road is the best school for a child. Of course, people can disagree with that idea. Everyone is free to have their own opinion. Our opinion is that children learn more from cultural immersion and world exploration than they ever could from books and classrooms.
We didn’t always think this way. Before we started travelling I thought that all kids should be in front of a teacher 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. But travel has taught me something. Actually no. Amazing parents who travel with their kids have taught me something. Children can thrive in a travelling environment too.
If you follow inspiring travel blogs like TravelWithBender.com and yTravelBlog.com, you’ll start to realize that children can flourish in a nomadic lifestyle. They can stimulate parts of their brains that they would never use at home and focus on things that they are good at, rather than being forced to change from classroom to classroom, despite having obvious talent in one area.
We met a couple who currently live in Grenada, but have also lived in many different parts of the world. A kind of nomadic family. Their children were all home schooled from a young age and their oldest daughter is a testament to how amazing this can be for kids. She is bright, articulate, sociable, intelligent and incredibly mature.
If we were to have kids, they would stay on the road with us. They would of course learn the basics of math, language, science and history, but they would be encouraged to spend more time on studies that they’re passionate about.
The unschooling method is becoming more and more popular and people are finally starting to see the flaws in traditional schools. When I was a kid, I was excellent at english, photography and visual arts media (video editing), yet I spent far more time learning science, math, law, history and social studies.
Luckily, after school I eventually found my way back to my passion. I now write, take photos and create videos for a living. Had I spent twice as much time learning about those subjects in school however, I probably would have figured this all out much sooner and would likely also be much more skilled in these fields than I am today.
If we ever have kids, they will be taught on the road. They will be introduced to the world. I wouldn’t say to them: “You know that kids in Africa are very hungry and you’re not eating your vegetables”. I would show them.
I wouldn’t have to point to the Pyramids of Giza in a text-book, or teach them about Slavery in the Caribbean from documentaries and photographs, I would bring them there and be a part of the history with them, while showing them how to live their lives better in the future.
Yes… our children would be worldly and we would still travel with them. It would just be a different type of travel and a different type of adventure.
Why Don’t We Want Kids?
It’s not that we don’t like kids. I love kids.
Well… when I’m not in a shopping mall, airplane, hotel, restaurant, beach or bar with some little tyrant screaming and running around the place…
But in general, I love well behaved children.
I have 3 beautiful little nieces and while I don’t get to see them nearly enough, I love to spend time with them. They are sweethearts and they always make me smile.
When we taught English in China, no matter how tired or grumpy we may have been in the mornings, as soon as we saw our little students’ smiling faces we would smile with them. We would laugh with them, play with them and have an amazing time.
So why don’t we want kids?
Right now, we just love spending time with each other. Of course, I could never imagine the love a parent has for their child, but at this time I feel satisfied with the love that Dariece and I have for each other and I wouldn’t want to take a moment away from that.
We love spending time with our nieces. But we also love that we give them back to my brother after a day of babysitting. We love that we can always go back to peace and quiet with just each other.
We also love being able to be spontaneous, and having the freedom to do what we want… on a whim.
In Conclusion
Right now we’re just not planning to have kids. So quit asking us! haha. We love kids, we wouldn’t let having them change our lives, we believe that kids thrive on the road, but we just want to be with each other for now. Maybe this will change down the road. Maybe not.
It is kind of funny that goat offspring are called kids too. Maybe we’ll just buy a baby goat and write an article called “We had a kid!” Perhaps we’ll save that one for April 1, 2017.
What do you think? Do you want kids? Do you have kids? Would you ever travel with them full time?
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