Dan Clements is the author of Escape 101: Sabbaticals Made Simple. He and his wife have taken several sabbaticals – the most recent was a 5-month career break to rural Paraguay, South America with their five-year old daughter. Dan was kind enough to share the following insights on taking sabbaticals with children. I sure love his outlook! Read what he says …
1. Tell us about how you’ve fit sabbaticals into your life, even with kids.
The real secret for us was commitment. It’s easy to pay lip service to the idea of a sabbatical with your children, but we knew that if we really wanted to make it happen, we’d need to get some leverage – we’d need to find a way to get over that gravitational pull of work and “normal” life.
Dan, his wife Tara, and their daughter.
For us, that meant telling as many people as possible that we were taking a sabbatical. Not that we might or that we’d like to. We told everyone we knew that when Eve turned five, we were leaving. We didn’t know for certain where we were going until just a few months before we left, but we knew we were going.
That sort of social commitment – telling everyone we were going – made a big difference for us. We felt like we had to follow through. For other people, commitment takes different forms. It might be a financial commitment – like buying plane tickets – or a logistical commitment, like giving notice at work, hiring someone to run your company. But everyone’s got a leverage point that they can use to make a sabbatical happen.
Without some kind of commitment that has significance to you, it’s far too easy to not take the sabbatical. When life happens, you need something to pull you through the distractions, and keep the sabbatical in your sights. For us, the “carrot” of time traveling was good, but the “stick” of not following through on our plans was truly critical.
2. Did your children benefit from your sabbatical? If so, how?
Wow. Where to begin?
We spent our sabbatical at a rural camp for homeless children, so Eve spent her days playing outdoors with kids who didn’t speak her language, who had very little in terms of possessions. Kids who came from the streets, kids who used to live in cemeteries. I think even at the age of five, it was a real eye-opener for her.
More than that, though, it was just so good for her. She learned to speak Spanish. Became more adventurous and outgoing. Learned to eat just about anything. Became braver and more optimistic. Grew much stronger and healthier. Become more tolerant and open-minded.
It sounds like a cliché, but it was like watching a flower finally get water and sunshine. An amazing, wonderful experience for her and for us as a family.
3. What advice to you have for others who really want to experience a sabbatical but have children still at home?
Don’t wait until they’re gone.
There’s a tendency to think that a sabbatical is something you do after your children have left home. It’s not true. I can’t imagine anything more important we could have done for our family. There’s no right age, no wrong age. Just do it.
If you need help, ask for it. People love to help, and just about everyone has a contact, an idea, or some experience that will open doors for you. If you’re stuck, ask us.
4. Do you address this topic in your book or on your website? If yes, please direct us to where we can find this additional information.
The topic is pretty close to our hearts – there’s an entire chapter of Escape 101 dedicated to sabbaticals with children.
One of the hardest parts of planning an escape with your kids is that it can feel like you’re the only one who’s doing this kind of thing. And when you feel alone like that, you start to question whether you’re doing the right thing. Part of the purpose of the Escape 101 website is to reassure people that they’re not alone. Or crazy. Or bad parents. That, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. We’ve done some interesting interviews with families who are traveling with their children. There are plenty of “regular” people out there doing remarkable inspiring things with their children.
Escape 101 is available in print, ebook and audiobook format. You can get sabbatical tips and insights by subscribing at www.escape-101.com
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