Travel physicians (or locum tenens) enjoy many enviable advantages. Often, the pay available is higher than what is offered to permanent staff. And, by accepting locum assignments, you have the opportunity to raise well-traveled children who are exposed to a number of different environments. But, it can take some pre-planning and strategy to ensure that travel is an exciting adventure for kids instead of a hardship. Below we’re going over some great tips for locum tenens with children. The more the merrier, right?
Tips For Locum Tenens With Children
Help Your Children Stay in Touch with Friends and Family
Being taken away from familiar friends can be stressful and unsettling for children. Make it easier for them to keep up with their friends at home by setting up communications applications like Skype on their computers or phones. Talk to your children’s friends’ parents in advance. This way you can make sure that your kids will be able to keep in touch.
You may be able to help your child find new friends and confidants by befriending other travel physicians. Meeting children who have traveling experience in common can be a bonding experience for them.
It’s also important that they’re able to communicate with family as well. A phone call to grandma every now and then, or their favorite cousin is a great way to stay in touch.
Locum tenens with children can often struggle getting their kids comfortable with a new setting. While it’s always great to make new friends, it’s also important that your children have some familiarity that they can turn to when they are traveling with you.
Maintain Continuity at School
To ensure that the adventure of travel does not interfere with your children’s educational success, do as much as you can to maintain continuity. Being a locum tenens with children means that you’ll need to consider the best method of education for your children.
Some families choose to travel only during the summer months to avoid disruptions during the school year. If this isn’t possible, consider an online school. Many states offer these as public school options. When your child goes to school online, the classroom is as close as the nearest internet connection, meaning that studies are not interrupted by travel. Online learning can also be difficult if your children are younger. Depending on the age, you might need to be available to help them with technical difficulties, which isn’t always easy as a locum tenens.
Ideally, you don’t want to take your children out in the middle of a quarter or semester, this could lead to some difficulty as your new school figures out what your children have already learned at their old school.
Look Into Cultural Opportunities
One of the advantages of locum jobs is the opportunity to play tourist during your off-hours. Many museums offer reciprocal memberships with other museums and attractions throughout the world. Research the memberships available at your local art or history museum in your home town to see if you can find partnerships in your temporary town. These membership privileges are an excellent way to increase your children’s educational opportunities outside of school.
Traveling with your children exposes them to a wide range of history, regional cultures and more. Through travel, you can create rich experiences and lifelong curiosity about new places that will benefit them a lifetime.
Make Time For Normalcy
It was can be easy as a locum tenens with children to ditch the normalcy. With odd hours, a fast-paced environment, and little free time, it’s easy to forget the importance of routine and maintaining a sense of normalcy. It’s the little things that really matter. Make time to eat dinner together, at a table. Even if you can’t do it every night, having a set day, or days can go a long way to providing some normalcy.
Do you have experience as a locum tenens with children? Let us know in the comments below!
