Some home-exchanging families will be be taking their children with them on holiday. When evaluating whether you want to accept a home exchange request or not, the question of children is something that requires consideration.

If you are not a parent yourself, you will need to think about the suitability of your home for potential exchange partners and their kids. For example, do you have a lot of breakables? Do you have expensive carpets that are difficult to clean? Are there any unprotected high-points from which a young child could fall? Do you have an open fire or a swimming pool? Do you have crockery that can be used by all, or do you only have precious plates and glasses?

Do you have a bath-tub? This can be an important consideration as sometimes children are not yet able to use the shower. Do you have any toys or games, whether they be computer learning games or physical toys?

If you are a parent hoping to do a home exchange with a user from a child-free home, it’s also very important to think about your compatibility. If you have babies, you’ll be able to take all the paraphernalia that you need with you, and also contain the possible mess made. However, with toddlers upwards, you’ll need to make an assessment. Will they be able to manage with the facilities in the prospective home? Is there a high-risk of breakage? Will they be amply entertained with the pass-times available? Will they be within close enough reach during the night-time?

The best thing to do is to look at the photos of the prospective house, and then have a talk with the prospective home exchange partners. You need to ensure that both parties will be comfortable and that the prospective home meets your family’s needs!

The underground.

What is with that? What happens to us? Honestly? What happens to civilisation when it hits those grimy steps and enters the so called underworld?

It changes. Normal, kind hearted, non-freakish people (some of whom have even given blood) turn into this monstrous wave of channelled anonymity, that pushes you, snarls at your ankles, and wishes you dead if you falter getting your ticket into the machine in less than 2.0 seconds.

We change, according to our environment, and depending on the group of people we are in.

The metro dehumanises us. Fact! But what does the home exchange community do to us?

Well, five things immediately spring to mind. To be a home exchanger, broadly, you´re going to be a certain type of person. Someone who likes to travel. Someone with a sense of adventure. Someone who likes to experience new things. Someone who has faith in community.

And the things this environment can bring out of you are that:

1) You help make the house child proof for the coming family
2) You leave a list of useful numbers such as dentists, doctors and physiotherapists at the ready
3) You inform the neighbours of the new family´s arrival
4) You prepare directions and suggestions for things the family can do during their stay
5) You leave their house sparkling clean for when they get back.

You see. The beauty of home exchange is, that although it might be a bit of extra effort to put all these things in place for the coming family, they will be thinking of you and doing exactly the same things for you. It´s these sweet little touches that really make home exchange a personal and heart-warming experience.

Just as the underground takes some humanity out of us, home swapping brings out the heart in us.