While many envision travel nurses as care-free individuals, being a travel nurse with a family is quite common!

It can be a truly rewarding experience to take your family on assignment with you. Seasoned travel nurses with families have already uncovered the not-so-secret benefits of sticking together while on the road.

Naturally, it requires a lot of planning—but so does traveling by yourself. If you are considering being a travel nurse, preparation before hitting the road is key.

Once you’re on assignment, the fun begins. Here are five unexpected rewards of being a travel nurse with a family:

1. You spend more time together.

Leaving your family at home while on assignment can be extremely difficult for everyone involved, but bringing your family with you alleviates that problem.

Meaningful interactions between parent and child help develop crucial mental and emotional health for the child, including:

• Feeling loved and developing a strong bond with the parent.
• Learning to communicate thoughts and feelings in a trustworthy space.
• Seeing appropriate behavior and modeling his or her actions after the parent.

2. You strengthen the bond with your partner.

The challenges you face with your partner while on the road create opportunities to work together and develop strategies to deal with whatever may come.

Traveling opens up the potential to experience these aforementioned “unique” situations. Consider how much more enjoyable navigating the following scenarios will be when you have your partner by your side:

• Discovering the best local restaurants
• Finding the right medical care in an emergency
• Making your new temporary house feel like a home

3. Your children have more opportunities to learn.

Although you will have to make special schooling arrangements for your children, kids who travel are able to learn more about their country on the road than they ever could by staying in one location.

Perhaps more important than the inevitable history lessons are the cultural experiences. Traveling is the best way to experience new environments and broaden your horizons, including interacting with people of various backgrounds and ethnicities.

4. Your children adapt to new situations.

Traveling helps your children learn how to adapt to new places, cultures, traditions, and religions. This life skill will absolutely prepare them for their future endeavors, such as going to college, choosing a career, and starting a family.

Adaptability is one of the most highly coveted skills sought out by employers. While many kids learn this skill in college, imagine the head start your child will receive while on assignment.

5. You enjoy more vacation time together.

Having a two week hiatus between assignments equates to the possibility of vacationing multiple times per year.

Not only is time off valuable for you, but the quality family time of bonding and making unforgettable memories is priceless.

As always, there are a number of important things you need to consider before you take your family on the road with you:

Housing

Can your agency help you find accommodations that are roomy enough for your whole family? If not, what other options do you have?

Note that it can be useful to rent furnished apartments, since that minimizes the amount of belongings you need to bring with you.

Education

Your children will need continuity in their education in order to succeed. Whether it’s placing them in a school system or homeschooling them, it’s important to find something that works for you.

Healthcare

Since you’ll be moving around every 12 weeks or so, you’ll need to find a primary care physician and any other healthcare professionals your family needs ahead of time.

Family Decisions

Traveling could be difficult, so making decisions together as a family is important.

You need to establish ahead of time how you’re going to decide on your next location; what happens if someone is really unhappy there; and how to deal with possible loneliness or other negative emotions.

Knowing how to solve any problem that arises is crucial, too.

Travel Nursing is a Great Experience for All

Being a travel nurse with a family can be a wonderful experience that allows you, your partner, and your children to see more of the world.

Are you interested in the possibility of going on assignment with your family? Contact us for more information.