Dear ones, one child is moving out, the next is moving in 😉 In about a month, we will be welcoming a guest child from Latin America into our family and although I grew up with many, many guest siblings myself, I have never been a guest mum in my life. So many firsts again this year!
„Who would take in a host child?“
When our children’s school asked if anyone would be interested in taking in a ninth-grader for a term, I took the idea to the kitchen table. After that, the idea just stayed in my head until I wrote to the school management a week or two later to say that if no one else had contacted us yet, there was still room in our hearts and house.
And so we got in touch with the family, exchanged numbers, collected photos of ourselves and everyone who belonged to the family to send them to her in a letter, only to receive a lovely letter back with pictures from the other side of the world.
Student exchange in the darkest time of the year
We zoomed in as a whole family with her and her family to see us live, I already regularly send her pictures via WhatsApp when someone here has a birthday or moves out or passes their driving test (there’s a lot going on here at the moment) and think all the time: Oh dear, poor thing, she’s coming to us in the darkest and coldest time of year!
In fact, it’s so exciting that at least I’m now walking through the flat with this view from outside: „Oh, we can’t leave the drawer like this when she comes“ and „Uh, the mess would have to be cleared up first“ and will she probably watch the Bundesliga with us when the extended family gets together?
Guest daughter is 2 years younger than the twins
I think she’ll also come with me to appointments that I’m making, because she won’t be mobile yet and will be dependent on our driving services, we live quite far away from the beaten track here in the country and are currently enjoying the luxury that our own children are now all travelling independently, so that will be another small change here.
And oh, Christmas for them without their parents, I wonder if they’ll get homesick? I’m particularly pleased that our daughter also had this experience herself during her exchange and will certainly be empathetic because she remembers exactly what it was like for her… because when I went to Latin America myself at the age of 15, I was away from January to August and spent the holidays at home. (On the plus side, we both speak Spanish thanks to our school exchange back then, which can also make it easier to get started)
What can we show her?
In the meantime, I’m also driving through the neighbourhood and thinking: Uh, I wonder what someone from far away will say about this industrial area…. I go to the bread slicer or sandwich maker and wonder whether she’ll dare to just make herself something when she’s hungry.
We’re in the process of printing out the photos she’s sent us so far so that she feels right at home in her room (the room of the older girl who’s just moved out). I wonder what new dynamic this will create within the nuclear family!
My hope is that the boys will also come along on a family trip from time to time when we say: Hey, your host sister urgently needs to go to Cologne Cathedral, everyone’s coming along… 😉
Our own world seen from the outside
We can then see and get to know our neighbourhood and our life together through completely new eyes and I find that really exciting and at the same time I find it so enriching if the chemistry is right. And I really do have that feeling from everything we’ve heard about each other so far.
We’ll certainly be taking you with us on this new adventure. The house is getting fuller again, the situation remains dynamic and I’m so excited. If you have any tips on what to prepare and how you as a host family can make the start easier for the new temporary family member, please feel free to comment here, we are very happy to receive tips and exchanges.
