The question I get asked the most about living in a van is.. how do you cope living in such a small space with your husband and kids?
We all know having kids is hard fucking work at the best of times, so if your wondering if raising children in a 7 metre van is twice as hard let me tell you how we cope.
THE HIGHS
The truth is I love being so close to them. I don’t want to be far away from them, on separate floors, in separate rooms. Don’t get me wrong some days I really really want this and on those days we either book into a hotel or airbnb and enjoy the space, or we loose our minds.
But the reality is, even if we go into a house they sit on top of us. They might run off and play for a bit but it won’t last long and they are soon back, sat next to us, interrupting our conversations. I hate that but I also love it.
Morning routines are so much easier in the van because they are right there with nowhere to run off too and nothing to really distract them from the task of getting ready.
Nighttime is far easier in the van! It’s like having them in a little den, they just snuggle up and go to sleep. Whenever we go into a hotel or house they won’t settle. There’s too much space so they just want to run around. We’re the same, we don’t settle well during the night in houses anymore.
So there it is, that’s how I cope, I love it. I love being squished into a van with my kids. I love being within ear shot of them. It’s not always great but I wouldn’t change it.
As for living in such close quarters with my husband, I love that too! If I need space either I go out or he goes out. Living in a van together has brought us closer than ever.
THE LOWS
Like i said, it’s not always easy and enjoyable being stuck in a tiny home with another adult and two children (sometimes three).
There’s the obvious, that kids are nuts and if they’re up there there is no stopping the chaos. Sometimes we want to just chill and they want to play and there’s no other room for them to run off to. Those days are hard.
Another hard aspect of having kids living in the van is storage. We don’t have much space to store toys and belongings so it’s harder for them to go and entertain themselves. This is a blessing and a curse to be honest. We have craft stuff on board so that will entertain for a bit but they spend a lot of time when indoors on ipads (which i don’t like) but I guess that’s probably just children in general these days.
Summer is easier in this respect because we usually find somewhere to park where we can open the doors and they can run in and out to play. Winters not so easy.
Our children go to school so during the week days they have somewhere to go with more space which is a nice balance for them. For us it means we get to enjoy a bit more space during the days while they’re out which is nice.
One thing I do miss though is that our children can’t really have friends over to play so that sucks.
Another difficulty for our family is we have two older children who can’t really fit in the van now. My eldest daughter has past the age of enjoying camping out with her parents and little siblings so she doesn’t enjoy staying much, she just wants constant electricity to charge her phone and space to do tiktok dances (don’t they all). So that’s a little personal struggle we have, it’s makes the days she’s with us a little trickier because it’s like having another full grown adult in the van. We have thought about getting a pop top on the van so there’s a little upstairs, maybe one day.
Apart from those few points I don’t really have any negatives to say about living in a van with my kids. I’ve lived in a house with children and I can say it is much easier in a van, for us at least. I also find it more enjoyable, it’s like we’re all on a little adventure together all of the time!
We all laugh together about our crazy little life living in this van and the adventures we have been on over the last two years and none of us would change it.
So there you have it, it’s not only possible but it’s fun and exciting and keeps parenting interesting (if it’s not interesting enough already).
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