Our travel nurse family consists of my wife (the actual nurse), myself (the chronicler), and our four-year-old, Knox (the activity director). We’ve been doing this now for over two years, and with no end to our adventure-seeking insight, we’ll probably be out here for at least two more. Our choice to take this show on the road has very possibly been the best one we’ve made together. There are good days and bad days, ups and downs, and all the other uncertainties associated with doing cool stuff, but man, all and all, it’s been one heck of a ride-and one none of us would trade for all the milk in the milky way.
I’ve written before about how impressed and proud I am of my wife and all she does for this family and her patients. I have extrapolated some of this appreciation to the entire travel nurse community and have done some articles for The Gypsy Nurse expressing those sentiments.
Travel Nurse Kids
I’ve done a few pieces on my own experiences (mostly comical) and have tried to pass on some of what I’ve learned from our travels. But I haven’t written a lot about our son Knox, or at least not about how travel nursing has affected him. As with some of my own stories, I’ve written about his more comical reactions to things or some general stuff about his relationship to traveling, but I haven’t really gotten into specifics.
In defense of my perceived neglect, Knox has been traveling for over half his life, so it’s all normal to him. He acts like a seasoned traveler smashed into a little kid body, so I sometimes forget what a big impact our lifestyle has had on him.
The little stuff
There’s the little stuff that we sometimes take for granted. Like the fact that he talks about Jeanie’s (my wife) main recruiter like he’s part of the family. “Has John called yet, mommy?” Has John found us a job yet, mommy?” “What’s John up to, mommy?” Or how he’ll ask his mother about turning in her hours worked to the agency she’s with at the time. “Have you turned in your time this week, mommy?” It’s funny and encouraging to see how involved he wants to be (and is) in our daily lives, which revolves around travel nursing issues in many ways. Although I do take it as just part of our lives sometimes, there are other times when it fills my heart with joy to see him interacting in those ways. It won’t be long until he gets promoted from activity director to travel coordinator.
Travel nurse kids are resilient
Knox is more resilient than most adults. He’s not too worried about where his next home will be; he just wants to help pick it out. He’s not afraid to make new friends. As a matter of fact, he thinks of it as part of his job to meet new people. He gets really involved in finding the best places to eat, finding out about what programs are offered for kids his age in the new towns we are in, or finding new adventures for the family to have.
Many things to consider
There are many things to consider when deciding on whether to travel nurse or not. And a child’s well-being is always at the top of that list if you have children. But take it from the parent of a travel nurse child. It’s one of the best decisions you can make if you decide to take your family’s show…on the road.
