MY CHILD IS GOING TO DO A LANGUAGE EXCHANGE AND I DON’T KNOW HOW TO START 

Surely that, if at some point you have thought of sending your child to another country in order to do a language exchange or just a trip alone, you probably have done yourself thousand different questions related to the safety of this experience.

Break away from a child during a period of time is hard, but if he/she is going to another country to coexist with a foreign family, you don’t know personally who they are, how they are going to take care of your child, if they are going or not to worry about he/she… that create you, even more, insecurity. That insecurity causes that many of you don’t allow your child to live one of the best experiences in his life, where they will meet other people and other cultures outside their comfort space.

Forget fears!

In this new post, we wanted to leave 7 tips so that you have in mind if you propose to send your child abroad for a period of time.

1.- Don’t think that your child is too young to travel alone. Currently, airlines allow children traveling alone from 5 years. For more security and tranquillity of the parents, these companies make available an escort service for children, who will be in charge of taking care of them since their arrival at the check until their arrival at the airport of destiny.

2.- New technologies allow you to stay connected. As mentioned many times, new technologies have both pros and cons and one of the greatest pros of phones, computers, tablets … is that they allow us to stay connected all time and anywhere in the world. Give your child a mobile with which he/she can communicate with you. This will make more bearable the time your child is out plus you’ll have constant information about how it is. However, you should not use it more than you should because you must let your child enjoy the experience completely.

3.- The documentation must be always organized and controlled. “The minors, whether traveling alone or with other persons that are not their parents, will require the ID Card (or passport) and a notarized letter of authorization from the parent or legal guardian made by personal appearance at a police station, Civil Guard station, court, notary or municipality. This document may be required if children do not share names with adults or traveling with grandparents, aunts or family friends. ”

Your child goes alone, no one will be with he/she to take care of the ID card, passport or plane tickets. On the way, as you probably will accompany until the check-in, there will be no problem, but when he come back, you will not be with him/her. As he /she gets to his/her new temporary destination, he/she should to leave the passport and the tickets stored at home in a drawer. This ensures he/she can come back home anyway.

The documents that your child must bring are the same as for spending holidays outside the country: ID card, a notarized letter authorizing a third party to take charge of your child, passport, plane tickets, Health Insurance Card, Medical Record (if necessary) and Travel insurance (if you have hired).

4.- Should I hire a travel insurance or not? As your child will stay in a house of a foreign family, you ought to make travel insurance. Thus, if your child breaks anything in the house, has any problem with the family or even if he/she cannot finally make the exchange, this insurance will solve any problem and you won’t have to spend a lot of money.

5.- What about the money? The best for your child is not to be economically dependent on the host family. Your child should have a bank account in the destination country so that you can send the money he/she need.

If your child is too small to handle all the steps involved in opening a bank account, an alternative is to create a bank account in an internet bank like evoBank, which will allow your children to take money off at very low commissions.

6.- What if my child gets sick? The best is to hire a medical insurance that covers any type of health problem your child have during the exchange, from a cold to a break. You must take into account that medical expenses abroad are not covered by the social security of your home country so if you don’t hire the medical insurance and your child have any mishap, you will have to spend a lot of money.

If your child is traveling to any country inside the Schengen area, he/she will only have to travel with the European Health Insurance Card. However, for countries that are not part of this area, such as the USA, you will have to hire a health insurance for your child.

7.- If your child is allergic, you must tell the host family. By this way, they will be aware of the situation of your child and they will not make meals that your child can not eat freely.

With all these tips we hope you as parents stay calmer and be willing to send your son to a foreign country with native family.