Traveling Toddlers


What will life in India be like with a 1.5 and 3 year old child in tow?

I have to be honest, Marion and I have had some reservations lately about living in India for six months. Claire, who used to be outgoing, carefree, uninhibited and sociable, has recently become quite shy and exhibits signs of being uncomfortable around strangers (and even sometimes around friends or neighbors she knows well). I posted a picture of her that illustrates this new side of Claire (OK, in all fairness, it was taken when she was actually being playful, but the metaphor of hiding in a box is a good one).

From what I understand, almost everywhere you go in public in India, people are in your face. How will Claire cope with this? Herein lies the source of our reservations.

But then Marion discovered an interesting travel diary written by a British couple who went to Kerala with their two-year old. As the author, Josie Lloyd, writes about their apprehensiveness prior to committing to the trip: "To hell with it! There are ten million two-year-olds in India; ours is bound to survive." I'm not sure where she gets the figure, but if there are 10 million two-year olds, there must be nearly as many three-year olds. We can't predict how Claire, or Luc for that matter, will respond. But we won't know unless we go.

Even If you just skim Lloyd's travel diary (granted it was a three-week, not six-month, trip to Kerala), you can begin to imagine how exciting life in India will be, especially for a three-year old. Eating freshly cut pineapples on the beach, riding in cars without seatbelts (much less car seats), sitting on the potty underneath the shade of palm trees, nuns playing in the waves, cows on the beach--these experiences will undoubtedly enrich Claire's short life, even if she does not remember them ten years from now.

Marion tries to draw on her experiences in Northern India twelve years ago, I try to read books about Indian culture and society, we both search desperately for information on the web. None of this will prepare us for life in India. In part, it's precisely the unknowableness of it all that compelled us to undertake this upcoming adventure. And after all, if we knew with any certainty what life in India would be like, there would be no adventure in it. For better or worse, Claire and Luc will be on the adventure with us.

Posted: Sat - October 8, 2005 at 03:10 AM          

©