TRAVEL WITH A CHILD [posté par Marie le 21 juillet 2011]

It's very interesting to travel with a young child, and globally everything was right and great with our daughter. She met new people and she saw amazing animals like kangaroos (she even fed some), cassowaries, wallabies, sea turtles... She also fed the chooks, ducks and pigs when we stayed in a farm... It was a daily ritual and she loved that. She learned not to be afraid with dogs any more...

The first flight and the first month were a bit hard : big crisis in the airplane from London to Bangkok and in Thailand it was very hard for her to go to sleep. Maybe she was anxious to see us moving around every time. But she quickly adapted herself and the five next months were just perfect.

Concerning our wwoofing experience, we mostly selected families with young children and we did it on purpose, so that Mathilde could meet other children and not stay isolated. Until now she often speaks about all the guys she met and she remembers many things she did with them, especially the Derecourt family, where there were so many children : Dallas, Martin, Chance, Ayva...

It's true that I couldn't really help with the farm running, especially at the beginning : too hard or too long or too sunny or too dangerous with a little girl around your legs. So I generally helped with housekeeping and some gardening like weeding. It's a bit boring but I could keep my daughter with me while Gildas was giving a hand outside or with some harder work. At the beginning Mathilde didn't understand why I was doing something else and not playing with her so it was a bit hard for her and she cried a lot. But after two farms she really improved and at the end I could work outside 1 or 2 hours and she just stayed around and played next to me. At that time it was great ! She was more autonomous and more confident.

Some families understand and accept very well the presence of babies (and the consequences of their presence) and are happy with it, and some other don't... With the first ones, everything is easier and nicer of course. Some hosts helped us to organize a "playground" for her (a carpet, an umbrella and some drawing books for example) next to the place where we worked. Mathilde found plenty of children books in almost every places where we stayed, and we plan to find some of them on e-bay for her next Christmas ! ... Sometimes, Gildas and I could share our time and work one at a time while the other one took care of the little one. Concerning the deal with our hosts, the best and most balanced one is to work around four hours a day. Some people asked for more hours... it depends on the context too.

After two first experiences which were not so good for us, the 3 next ones were just perfect : exceptional hosts, very attentive to our daughter and generous with all of us, a lot of fun...

Finally it' s a very good and positive experience and we recommend to all parents to do the same !