When doing research for our trip, all I could read was how child-friendly countries like Chile and Uruguay were. There was a blurb I read in a blog that said something like, “In Chile, children are not a nuisance; they are part of our family and thus our lives. Thus, they go everywhere and anywhere with us.” In Chile almost immediately, we saw children of all ages literally everywhere. We saw large families walking on the streets together, children giggling and playing, and lots of large, colorful playgrounds across neighborhoods. Near our hotel, there was this massive park called Parque Centro where, around 5-6pm, we saw endless families and children everywhere. There was a huge grass area with lots of tables where families could picnic while comfortably seated, with overhead covers to protect from the sun. There were multiple play structures in all colors of the rainbow that catered to different age groups and stages of development. The one that we personally enjoyed the most was an adult-toddler swing: the adult and toddler face each other seated, and they swing together! Kaia’s gotten mad at swings in the last year, but in the last couple of months, she has slowly re-warmed to them. We have a hunch it’s because she hates feeling contained and stuck, much preferring to be free to roam around. So when we first placed her in it, she kicked and yelled… until a few swings passed, and she realized that yes, this WAS actually fun! She giggled with glee each time we swung. It was enjoyable to see a family friendly environment in most places that we visited in Santiago and the surrounds.

We also noticed that businesses seemed more comfortable letting children roam around. In our hotel breakfast area, there’s a walkway that connects to a fine-dining type establishment that shares the same kitchen as the hotel breakfast area. Kaia, being cheeky as always, kept running away from us and trying to hide in that area. Multiple staff members saw this on many occasions, but none of them said anything to us. Instead, they smiled and laughed and let us keep going. No one scolded me or suggested that I remove my child. My child was just allowed to be that — a child. It actually felt really nice and less restrictive. I always feel like in the U.S., I have to have a leash on Kaia when in places like restaurants, but not here.