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Hello Pilgrims!
My name is Jeanne and my friend Marci and I are setting out on the Camino in May. Our kids are tween to teen age. They are very supportive of us leaving but, this being our first Camino, we are concerned about leaving for such an extended period of time. We are celebrating our 50th birthdays and have been planning this trip for over a year, we booked flights so now it's real! We will be gone for about 5 1/2 weeks. Do any of you have any stories or words of guidance? How did you prepare? What happened while you were gone? Any support is welcome!
Hello Jeanne and welcome to the forum! Well done for making it happen, that's the very hardest part I think!Hello Pilgrims!
My name is Jeanne and my friend Marci and I are setting out on the Camino in May. Our kids are tween to teen age. They are very supportive of us leaving but, this being our first Camino, we are concerned about leaving for such an extended period of time. We are celebrating our 50th birthdays and have been planning this trip for over a year, we booked flights so now it's real! We will be gone for about 5 1/2 weeks. Do any of you have any stories or words of guidance? How did you prepare? What happened while you were gone? Any support is welcome!
Hello Pilgrims!
My name is Jeanne and my friend Marci and I are setting out on the Camino in May. Our kids are tween to teen age. They are very supportive of us leaving but, this being our first Camino, we are concerned about leaving for such an extended period of time. We are celebrating our 50th birthdays and have been planning this trip for over a year, we booked flights so now it's real! We will be gone for about 5 1/2 weeks. Do any of you have any stories or words of guidance? How did you prepare? What happened while you were gone? Any support is welcome!
Wow, you are truly "Super Woman"! My hat's off to you. I cannot imagine the planning you had to do to juggle all the kids, equipment, flights, meals, snacks, beds, etc.etc. I'm weary just thinking about it.What happened when I left my kids home? One of them learnt to drive - eeeek!
The next time I left, we sent the current 16-year-old to India before we left
Much harder was heading to Spain with some of the kids, Daddy bringing some more up after three weeks, walking together for a few weeks and then Daddy leaving to go home while the rest of us kept walking. Oh my, THAT was hard. There were even tears. For three days from one son!!! There they are, Daddy with the four kids having their final goodbye - the bus is waiting for him, the last passenger, to board:View attachment 36821
When Daddy and I went alone to Portugal to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary the kids all had a ball! win-win
8. Eleven years between the first and last. Taking just four was a holiday;-)You have how many kids? 5, 6, 7, 8?
I'd wager to bet you have the record for the highest number of immediate family members walking the Camino at one time, and I'm including the Spaniards! Way to go!8. Eleven years between the first and last. Taking just four was a holiday;-)
Quite possibly - especially our first time when we walked with all eight and Grandpa! We were frequently asked for our large family card - of course we didn’t have one and we were not cheeky enough to say “Feel free to give us the discount, you can see we are a big family”.I'd wager to bet you have the record for the highest number of immediate family members walking the Camino at one time, and I'm including the Spaniards! Way to go!
Spot on!I’ve been thinking about the original question and have an observation to make. The hardest thing for me about going and doing something exciting with only part of the family is the way the anticipation is “dampened somewhat out of respect for those who are staying behind. Likewise you don’t relive the experience as much afterwards because it was not shared with everyone.
ThaHello Pilgrims!
My name is Jeanne and my friend Marci and I are setting out on the Camino in May. Our kids are tween to teen age. They are very supportive of us leaving but, this being our first Camino, we are concerned about leaving for such an extended period of time. We are celebrating our 50th birthdays and have been planning this trip for over a year, we booked flights so now it's real! We will be gone for about 5 1/2 weeks. Do any of you have any stories or words of guidance? How did you prepare? What happened while you were gone? Any support is welcome!
I just got back from the camino on Sunday. We left our 16 and 18 year old boys home....alone.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to do the full camino...but were gone 18 days. I made them both join facebook, and I said I'd do an update once a day on how we were doing with a few pics. Turns out, one of the boys never even looked, and the other looked every few days. meh.
We have family that lives nearby, and friends of the boys that drive also. We basically did a day-by-day summary of what each of them had, and listed if they were getting a ride by who, or transit.
We felt guilty leaving them alone for that long, but it was a great learning experience for them. They had to set their own alarms! They had to get groceries. They had to communicate with each other as to who was where and who fed the dog etc.
We got home and found milk in the fridge that expired 16 days prior. Ha.
With that said, I think we learned more than the kids did...in that, they're fully capable of doing a lot more than we thought.
We leave on April 25. I am filled with excitement and I'm so inspired by what you and others have said. Thank you.Congrats! What better way is there to instill in your kids to be strong, brave, take responsibility for themselves, get along, be confident and curious travellers and pursue their dreams and goals unless they see you doing the same thing? - Somethings are better caught than taught. Bravo! Suggestion - perhaps get FaceTime or Skype video app for your phone and use it occasionally to show them what you are seeing along the trail - just suck it up and pay for the data if needed (and there will likely be wifi at every hostel). In our family, we also had the "Life360" app on our phones so the family could see on a map where I was in Spain and how I was progressing over the month.
The time away may be valuable for the tweens and teens too. I think my kids may have learned and grown from my month on the trail. The key for my time away from the family was that my wife was 100% supportive and encouraging that I pursue something I have talked about for 10 years and I didn't just say "someday I'll do that". "Tomorrow may never come, for all we know" (Nat King Cole)
When do you go? Report back once you get home.
I just got back from the camino on Sunday. We left our 16 and 18 year old boys home....alone.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to do the full camino...but were gone 18 days. I made them both join facebook, and I said I'd do an update once a day on how we were doing with a few pics. Turns out, one of the boys never even looked, and the other looked every few days. meh.
We have family that lives nearby, and friends of the boys that drive also. We basically did a day-by-day summary of what each of them had, and listed if they were getting a ride by who, or transit.
We felt guilty leaving them alone for that long, but it was a great learning experience for them. They had to set their own alarms! They had to get groceries. They had to communicate with each other as to who was where and who fed the dog etc.
We got home and found milk in the fridge that expired 16 days prior. Ha.
With that said, I think we learned more than the kids did...in that, they're fully capable of doing a lot more than we thought.
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