The social nomad | Day 191 of my 2023 Journal

A question we often meet is this: What about friends? I

t is no different from before we started traveling; when the kids had their homebased life in a house, it was the same worry most people came to us with: How is children's social life outside the school system? And will they be socialized?

In 2012, I wrote a simple blog post on the social life of home-based children.

It has been one of the most read pieces, and I feel it is about time to do another one. It seems complicated for people outside the lifestyle inside what I call “The Box” to understand.

I think it is necessary to look at where the question comes from, beside an often wholehearted worry about the thriving of our family. Thank you for that, all!

Let me say: We’ve got it. Dont worry. We are happy and balanced.

But let’s face it: The question also comes from an understanding of how crucial friendships are for schooled children and how important it is for them to survive the context of the school setting emotionally.

The focus on friends and learning social codes is based on the fear of the child drowning in a sea of loneliness, lack of confidence, being mocked, and being an outcast.

This is a short text, not the next long blog-style unfolding of the theme, so let me be clear: We do not have that problem. There is no sea to drown in.

Our children are not dependent on a social field of

A) lack of trust of adults (because they always have an agenda, and they don’t trust you)

B) too many other children you are forced to spend EVERY DAY with for up to NINE hours.

You grow strong.

You get to know yourself. Y

ou pick and choose your own friends.

And passions.

You have TIME for your relations.

I don’t need to spend several hours a day with my friends to have a rich social life, nor do my children.

As it happens, we, all of us, including the children, have friends in many countries - long-lasting beautiful friendships.

We mostly travel for people or coordinate adventures with friends and spend most of our time coliving.

There is no problem. At all.

Love and light

Cecilie Conrad

Thank you for reading
I would love to hear from you. Listen to your thoughts and reflections - or praise :) It is often emotional to share our life like this, and we get very happy when we get feedback from you. So feel free to share a comment below 😋