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Recently, we had a family reunion in Bali. It was the first time many of my relatives met our daughter Isla. There were about nine  female relatives giving Isla attention, she loved it every second of it! Isla also had her 18 month old cousin to play with, it was great to see them together. Taking our wee one to another country for holiday was challenging but well worth it. We needed to be a bit more organized and we didn’t relax as much due to parenting duties. On occasion, we did enlist one of our relatives to look after Isla as we went out for a bit of solo time. Otherwise, we were constantly looking after our daughter. It is more difficult to let down your guard when you have an infant in another country. We certainly didn’t want Isla crawling around the dirty drainage ditchs. I certainly didn’t want to be crawling around in those dirty ditchs. All things considered, Bali is a very tidy country and we didn’t have any problems with Isla crawling into danger. They use quite a bit of tile in Bali, it is also very humid, this made crawling for Isla more difficult because she’d get stuck to the tiles as she tried to crawl around.

Being around so many relatives at one time is an interesting event. I was able to catch up with my cousins and hear about their lives in other parts of the world. They were able to spend heaps of time cuddling Isla and watching her do funny baby things. I’d often ‘deliver’ Isla to my partner’s parents early in the morning so they could play with her as we rested. It was nice to have all those relatives around for helping hands with baby. She definitely enjoyed the extra attention and the opportunity to make funny noises with family members. After spending so much time around my family, we all stayed at the same place for three weeks, I realized the power of living in a village type setting. I noticed how the Balinese all lived in extended family groups and how they all look after each other. Being first time parents, it is so helpful to have family around for support. We all know these babies do not come with instructions, so it is nice when your family is able to give you some advice. Plus, when would new parents ever be able to have time to themselves if they couldn’t pass the baby on to some relatives? Living as an extended family certainly has its benefits.

I encourage parents to travel with their baby. It is a unique opportunity to explore our world and our relationship with our child. I feel that our time in Bali strengthened my ability to sooth our daughter. When Isla would get tired or overwhelmed and mum wasn’t around, I was the one who soothed her. Now I feel that I am better able to care for her in this way. This wouldn’t have happened if we had not traveled together. I was also able to observe how the Balinese interacted as a family and learned from their differences. I’m already looking forward to our next big holiday over seas with baby.