I moved my kids out of America. It was the best parenting decision I've ever made.

Living abroad has transformed my children — for the better

Boys swimming in a lake.
(Image credit: Blend Images / Alamy Stock Photo)

"I really wish you'd reconsider your decision," my neighbor Steve said. He strode over, hands on hips, and added, "I hear it's dangerous down there. I'm really worried about your kids."

The decision he was referring to was the radical idea that my husband and I had settled on. We were moving, along with our two young sons — at age 7 and 9 — from small town U.S.A. to a modest mountain village in Ecuador. Steve wasn't the only one with concerns. My brother, who normally lauded my parenting choices, was ominously silent on this one, afraid that talking about it would make it real, give it life and validation.

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Wendy DeChambeau is the Ecuador Highlands Correspondent for International Living Magazine. She regularly writes on the topics of living and traveling abroad and her work has also appeared in The Huffington Post, The Latin Kitchen, and Matador Network.