I Spend Each Summer Out Of The U.S. With My Child, And This Is The Biggest Difference

Bunches of apples clatter to the ground as giggles fill the air. I anxiously look around at the other parties seated nearby in the garden cafe, wondering if anyone is upset that my child is being loud. All I see are smiles. We’re in a small Lake District town in northwest England, our home for the summer, and my child and two friends she just made are laughing, jumping out of the trees on the property and running around to see if there are flowers to pick before going back to the trees to climb. I take a cue from the other diners and stop worrying if my child is being too boisterous or rambunctious and instead focus on the cafe menu and what I should order for breakfast.

A scene like this seems impossible in the U.S. When I was pregnant and thinking about what I wanted motherhood to look like, I started to set plans in motion for being able to spend at least a month overseas with my child. A flexible job as a freelance writer and living in a sought-after destination made it possible to rent out our home and spend the summer settling into a new place. I knew I wanted her to experience different cultures and customs. I wanted to explore with my child and see the world through her eyes, but I wasn’t expecting to feel so much less anxiety parenting overseas.

“Parents often find themselves more at ease when traveling to family-oriented cultures like those in Sweden, Italy, Canada and New Zealand ,” Kanchi Wijesekera, a clinical psychologist and the founder and director of Milika Center for Therapy & Resilience , told HuffPost. “These places tend to prioritize family and community, allowing parents to feel supported and less pressured to make their children conform to adult-like behavior.”

Though COVID-19 delayed some of my