All they need is love

So today I was reading my daily fix o fMamamia and I came across this article here by Catherine Deveny. I love the hilarious, honest and direct way this woman writes without coming across as patronising.


For those of you too lazy to click the link essentially what Catherine was preaching about was that kids need most the love of their parents.


Now this seems obvious but often as parents we get struck down with the guilt stick which can screw a parents' perspective on the matter.

It doesn't matter what clothes or shoes they are wearing, whether they had to eat weetbix in front of the tv one night this week {or three}, whether they go private or public, how many toys they have ans whether or not you have them enrolled in violin, swimming, gymboree and mandarin. 


At the end of the day kids want to know that we love them unconditionally. They see and FEEL this in the attention we give them and the time we make for them.


When we were travelling we kept hearing "what about x" or "how will you give Aurelia x, y, z". I think there were some people who felt taking our daughter on an adventure around the world was the toddler version of torture. In fact anyone who wants to know torture is a toddler and jetlag. But I digress. We had some sceptics.


I notice on travel forums, where one could expect parents to be more open minded, that the holidays involving infants to anywhere more exotic than Vanuatu, Fiji or the Gold Coast are not generally reported on. In fact I have found some for Fiji to be even a little tricky if not searching out a five star resort.


Parents tend to send private messages to other parents asking for advice rather than post up their travel experiences in case some person who is travelling in their retirement disparages a parent for going to Sabah, Laos or heaven forbid Nepal in the first place.


Everyone has passions or things which shape their interests and dreams. For us it was a wanderlust which keeps us searching for a new adventure whether it be camping - more about that later - or overseas.


Raya might not had a huge number of clothes but she had our time and attention and we created memories together.


People often worry about how kids will cope with travel. My belief is that they cope. They adjust and this is a learning experience in itself.

Here are some photos of our daughter coping on a train trip to Switzerland.


Parents get bombarded with parenting advice. Keep it simple. Regardless of age or location all they need is love.