The Summer My Son Became the Best Travel Partner Ever

After nine months of not knowing whether I was doing it right (and random strangers assuring me I wasn’t)…

…after two years of full-time daytime childcare and assignments completed whenever between naps and nighttime…

… after eight years of not knowing whether we were acceptable parents or signing up our kid for lifelong weekly meetings with a shrink…

… after learning how to navigate parenting differences between France, China and Canada…

… after handling grades 3 and 4 during a pandemic…

…and after making peace with the fact we were probably not the best but not the worst parents either…

I’m happy to report I genuinely enjoy hanging out with my son.

At 10.5 years old, Mark is the best travel partner ever.

I have to be honest—just a few years ago, the mere thought of entertaining Mark alone for a few hours was exhausting. Occasionally fun, yes, but definitely a selfless act. I really had to parent—”don’t do this”, “do that”, please leave me alone for a second because I really have to go pee”, “why are you crying now”, “please let me talk to other grownups, including your dad” and other parenting sentences were repeated multiples times an hour.

But now, Mark behaves like—gasp!—a proper human being. He is funny, thoughtful, smart, and curious. He lets me catch up on sleep on the train while he eats his sandwich and reads, and he wakes me up very nicely once we arrive. He can take the tramway alone, come back from the Jardin des Plantes alone if he feels like playing longer than it takes me to down a cup of coffee, he can even run to the supermarket to buy something we missing at the last minute. He follows me without complaining, and he takes the lead when needed.

We talk about music, books, life, the world and more. He takes great pictures and he has interesting insights.

I like the person he is becoming.

So if you’re struggling with a younger kid, just remember it does get better.

My job ain’t over, but now this is the fun part of parenting. My turn to be childish once in a while!