Top 5 Family-Friendly Features of Life in Medellín, Colombia

We’ve lived in Medellín, Colombia for almost a year, and the longer we live here, the more convinced I am that this is place full of family-friendly features. I can’t speak directly to families with older kids (though have friends with older kids), but with three kids ages 2, 4, and 6.5, gosh, we love how family-embracing life is here.

My perspective comes from moving to Colombia from the United States. And I’ll state at the outset that these facets are not necessarily all in contrast to the US, as there are situations and places where these things are true in the US as well. But. If you are visiting and/or considering whether to move to Medellín, Colombia as a family and wondering what it’s like, I give a whole-hearted two thumbs up.

Here are our top 5 family-friendly features of life in Colombia:

1. Embracing mess, noise, and general chaos

This has been one of the biggest game changers for us, so I’ll lead with it.
Kids are messy. Loud. Chaotic. And unpredictably so, whether at home or in public. And that’s just the way it is, whether you have 1 kid or 5.

In Colombia, (almost) no one is bothered by this. We’ve had kids throw up in restaurants, break down into tears in parks, spill drinks in movie theater lobbies, and countless other daily and weekly messes. And you know what? I never feel embarrassed or stressed about that. No one gives you side eye, no one moves to a different table to get away from your chaos, no rude comments, nothing. Quite the contrary- people are super understanding, helpful, and generally accept it as part of life.

Now, I am saying this in generalities, which is a risky thing to do, because of course there are inevitably exceptions. But, I overwhelmingly – and particularly in contrast to our life in the DC area – feel that it is a huge difference and benefit of life as a family in Colombia. Maybe this is because life here in general is just a bit more messy, noisy, and chaotic? Just all part of the fun.

2. Affordable childcare and in-home help

While I’m starting with most impactful family-friendly features, let’s move to this one. It’s no secret that childcare in the US is insanely expensive, costs are rising rapidly, and options are shrinking. To say we often felt like we were drowning with 3 small children would be an understatement.

We have been much relieved that we can afford the quality and quantity of care and house help that makes life with children feel less like drowning and far more enjoyable. To be more specific. We have a full-time (Mon-Fri 9-5) bilingual nanny, part-time preschool/kinder for our two oldest girls, and a 3-days-a-week housekeeper (who cleans, cooks, does laundry, organizes, etc) for about $1,500 USD a month. This includes payment for all benefits for our employees.

To be clear, I’m saying this as a US citizen who earns in USD and spends that USD in Colombia. I fully recognize that my purchasing power is higher here, and (almost) everything is less expensive here than in the US. That is not the point I’m trying to make.

It’s more about the relative cost of and access to childcare in Colombia. For instance, we pay slightly more in Colombia for rent than for all our childcare/housekeeper expenses combined. In contrast, in the US part-time childcare for our kids was almost double our rent. And house cleaning was so prohibitively expensive that, as most others, we only had someone come a couple hours every other week. Further, even talking to Colombians, it’s clear that it’s far more common for middle and upper middle class Colombians to have regular house help than it is in the US.

We are so grateful for our additional teammates in this season and the many ways their help enables us to be more present, patient, and peaceful parents.

3. Children are beautiful and a blessing

Pretty much every time we’re out in public, at least 1 complete stranger, if not multiple, praises our children for their beauty, preciousness, kindness, or simply for existing. People literally stop us on the street to adore our children. Every time we go out.

Now, on the ‘beauty’ front, our experience is undoubtedly skewed due to having fair-skinned, two blue-eyed, and two light-haired little girls. But. I often see grandmas praise little Colombian girls and tell them how beautiful they are as well.

Colombians love children, and they love to shower kids with words of affection. And when I think about the ways this changes the way I (and my girls) present in that kind of world, wow. Having lived in this for almost a year, it was a pretty sharp contrast on a recent trip to the US. Would you like to guess how many times anyone praised any of our children in this way in a 2 week visit?

Zero.

I want to be careful here. I’m not saying that people in the US don’t like children. And I don’t want to be overly critical of my home country and culture. But. I do think Colombians distinctly embrace children and families in ways that feel warmer and more energizing as a parent.

I love being a mom and family here.

4. Family-friendly amenities

So much of public life is either oriented around, or at least inclusive of the existence of families and children. It is not an afterthought, but an intentional structural built-in feature of life.

Oodles of sit-down restaurants have wonderful playgrounds or play structures (I’m not talking fast food, but that too).

All of the malls (central part of public life) have one or more play zone(s) and/or rotating kid-oriented exhibit or activity.

Lactation rooms, family bathrooms, kid-sized toilets in public restrooms, and changing tables are so abundant.

There are often separate lines (at airports, customs, in some stores) for people with small children. Pregnant people can usually go to the front of most lines.

It’s great.

5. Family-friendly activities

Water parks. Play places in malls. Museums. Festivals. Green spaces. Sports. Classes. Attractions. Amusement parks. Libraries. Theaters. The list goes on. There is so much to do here with kids! We have yet to run out of new activities to try. In fact, my list of “want to try” only seems to grow the longer we live in Medellín!

In closing, I’ll reiterate (especially with this last point) that these are not necessarily unique to Medellín, nor always/everywhere lacking in the US. I compare/contrast the two places as a point of reference in some cases. But I always want to humbly acknowledge my perspective is only my own. I offer it in case it’s useful for others in their journey, and recognize there are other perspectives as well!

If you’re considering a move to Medellín, Colombia as a family, I hope my top 5 family-friendly features list helps encourage you that it’s a great place to be!