It can be hard living away from your family and friends.
You miss birthdays, family dinners, and random Friday night hangouts. It’s hard on us as adults, but it can be even harder on kids. I’ve noticed, even though my son is only 1.5 years old, that he struggles with long-distance relationships with his family. I want to offer some tips that I’ve noticed have helped my son and our family as a whole while living away from family and friends.
- Facetime as much as possible. Being able to talk face to face with family and friends helps keep your relationships strong while living away from each other. It’s important to keep your relationship up to date and stay relevant in each others lives.
- Validate your child’s feelings. Let them know it’s okay to be sad. Let them know that it sucks. Let them know that how they’re feeling is totally legitimate. When your child is allowed to express and release how they’re feeling in a healthy way, they’re much more likely to be able to cope with that feeling.
- Send each other cards/gifts. It’s always great to do phone calls and video chats, but sending something physical has an even more special touch. Have your child make a card and send it to their grandparents or other family members. Ask your family to send your child a hand written card or stuffed animal every now and then.
- Keep your child’s routine as predictable as possible. This helps so much when family comes to visit or when you go to visit family. If your child has a solid routine, this will help them be able to cope better when things are a little different. Obviously you’ll have to switch it up a bit, but try to keep some things, like bedtime routine, the same when things get hectic with trips or visitors.
- Try to visit as much as possible. This one is the hardest to manage, but still very important. If you can, try not to go too long without seeing your loved ones. Plan trips to them, and let them plan trips to see you. Going years without seeing the people you care about can easily put a strain on your relationships.
These are just a few things that I’ve found have helped us and our family stay close while living so far away. I hope that they can be helpful to you, too.
