Keeping people abroad updated with your child’s development

Life is going well and you’re ticking all the important boxes on your ‘to do’ list — you’ve moved out, you’ve got a partner and now you’ve had your first baby together. Your friends and family have all visited and ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ at your precious bundle of joy, but as they leave you realise that some of them live so far away that they will not be able to visit often.

Nearby friends will be keen to come back and spoil your newborn, but if your siblings are at the other end of the country, or your parents are in another country altogether, getting your child to know who they are and letting your family watch your baby grow and develop can be tricky. For your mother — whether it’s her first grandchild or her tenth — helping to bring your offspring up in the right manner is vitally important.

Thankfully, constantly improving technology and falling prices can help. Long distance phone calls — both domestically and internationally — are extremely reliable and are no longer as expensive as they once were. Some operators even provide free calls to other countries meaning there is no need to rush a conversation.

The internet also offers ways to keep in touch. Instant messaging can be cumbersome and confusing for someone who hasn’t grown up in a generation that is used to computers; however, software is now available that easily allows users to make videos calls to friends and family. Once set up, all you need to do is look into the camera and speak to the person on the other end via a microphone attached to your computer.

This offers a lot more opportunities for Granny to keep in touch with your child. Firstly, she’ll be able to see the change in his appearance as he grows and develops. It also adds a lot more depth to the conversation: rather than just letting her know about his first visit from the Tooth Fairy, he can show the gap in his smile; instead of telling her about joining the school choir, he can sing a song to her; and rather than speaking about his first girlfriend, he can introduce each to one another.

Making a video call is cheap and easy. Once everything has been set up, it is a simple matter of a couple of clicks and things will be underway. Technology is getting cheaper and improving at a dramatic rate — high quality video can be sent across the world — and making the actual calls is often free.

Disclaimer: Matthew Pressman writes for a wide variety of commercial clients. This article is intended for information purposes only and readers should seek additional information before taking any actions based on its content.