These guidelines were created by parents/caregivers in preparation for the Childish Weeks in 2026. Because those were the first Childish Weeks ever, the guidelines were created from imagination, not from experience. Also, the guidelines were mostly created by parents of babies/toddlers, and many of them do not apply to older children. The guidelines were shared with the group before the Childish Weeks and were published here later for future reference.
For all participants
- Keep an eye at the children around you and be aware of potential dangers:
- Dangers in surroundings: Water, cliffs, holes, electric fences, dogs, fire, falling bikes, roads. Drowning is the most common cause of death for children under 5. Children drown in complete silence and within 30 seconds, and they can drown in the smallest waters like puddles.
- Dangerous items (cutting hazard): knives, scissors, other tools
- Dangerous items (suffocation): large plastic bags, including tent/sleeping bag bags (putting over the head), any small items that can be swallowed
- Dangerous items (intoxication through swallowing/organ damage): medicine/supplements, magnets, coins, button cell batteries, toxic plants
- Children wandering off and getting lost
- In addition to looking out for these dangers, also avoid creating them. Do not leave dangerous items lying around openly. Do not leave fire or hot ashes unattended. Park your bike so that it doesn’t fall over when a child pulls on it. Make your tent ropes and pegs visible.
- Apart from that, be aware that children might also be a danger to your belongings (they might carry them around and throw them in the water, fire or bushes, and they might damage them).
- Getting sick while being responsible for a child can be a nightmare. Children tend to get sick more easily and with stronger symptoms, as their immune system is less developed. Dealing with sickness is far more challenging camping in nature in a foreign place than it already is at home. We should be extra careful to not make each other sick during the Childish Weeks.
- If you took the scout task that day and take care of finding a sleeping place, keep in mind:
- Children at certain ages are already quite mobile but not yet aware of the dangers of their surroundings. Pick a sleeping place where it is at least possible to keep a distance to common dangers such as water, cliffs, holes, electric fences, roads, etc.
- Children may cry at night and tend to wake up very early and then make noise. At the same time, children and other participants may be sensitive to noise at night. This makes it preferrable to find large campsites where it is possible to spread out.
- If you took the cooking task, be aware that children need food more frequently, more reliably and in a more predictable schedule. Dinner should be ready at 18:00 the latest. The amounts need to be sufficient. Children (especially young ones) can be picky eaters, so food needs to be tasty, but some children might still not participate in communal meals. Also, many children don’t like too spicy food, and too much salt is unhealthy specifically for small children. Make food not too spicy or salty, but rather let people add it to their own plates as needed.
- Do not smoke cigarettes or weed around children. When smoking, be mindful of the wind direction.
- Do not take photos of children (except your own). Photos of their faces associated with our leftist activities can put them at risk later in life, and they cannot make an informed decision yet whether they want to take this risk.
- Children may have trouble to stay quiet and/or patient during meetings. Meetings should be kept short and efficient. Since caregivers/kids might not be able to attend, make sure to take notes so that they can catch up later. Announce topics in advance so that caregivers/kids can give their input if they cannot attend a meeting but want to be part of the decision.
- Most children will probably not speak English yet. While the Biketour can be an opportunity to learn some English, in situations where understanding each other is important, for example when children want to actively participate in meetings, the patience and effort to translate is needed. (Of course this applies to adults as well.)
- Caregivers tend to receive a lot of unwanted advice (often meant as criticism) how to raise their children. This can be very stressful, as these opinions often contradict each other and one’s own ideals. Caring for children is a complex responsibility. There is no agreed upon way to do it right, and caregivers have to navigate their own knowledge and ideals about what’s right with the practicalities of life and their own limitations. Especially if you don’t have children yourself, be aware that when you see caregivers interacting with their children, the whole history of their relationship is invisible to you, so you might not be able to understand the reasons for their decisions. Therefore, avoid criticizing, shaming, and advice giving about how (other) caregivers are raising their children. Instead, aim to learn from each other and support each other in this complex task.
- Children are a vulnerable, marginalized group. They’re often completely reliant on their caretakers and don’t have access to the same protections and abilities as adults. The relationship between caretaker and child is always one of great power imbalance. It’s on all of us to keep children safe during the Biketour.
- Taking care of children is a lot of work, and will be some of the most important work we do during the tour. Sharing this work with caretakers can be helpful, like playing with the children. Some children (especially at certain ages) do not like strangers, so it is not always possible to share the direct care work. However, we can share the work by offering to carry some of the luggage, pull a trailer, setting up the tent, prepare food, etc.
- Children are often less experienced at recognizing boundaries. If a child wants something from you or does something to you that you don’t want, communicating your boundary clearly (and non-violently) to the child will not only make life easier for you, but it will be a very valuable learning experience for the child. Some beings, for example small babies and dogs, may not be able to communicate their own boundaries in a way that children can understand, and will need external support to do so.
For parents/caregivers
- The main reason why you join the Biketour might be that you want to travel by bike with your child in a group with other children. Keep in mind that Ecotopia Biketour is not just a biketour, but it has some specific political and ideological values. Before joining, familiarize yourself with the participation guidelines. Be aware that while children are the priority during the Childish Weeks, values and needs unrelated to children will still be present, and people participating without children will be there and should feel included.
- My own experience is that since becoming a parent, I have been exposed to a much more cisnormative environment than before. The whole legal, health and childcare system seems to be based on the assumption that there is one mother/woman who gave birth and is breastfeeding and one cis man who is the father. It also seems like cis hetero couples are much more likely to have children. For these reasons, since having children the presence of queer people in my social environment has shrunk a lot. If you have a similar experience, queer realities might not be that present in your mind right now. Make yourself aware that people with a variety of gender identities are joining the Biketour. Try to not assume anyone’s gender and use gender neutral language for people whose pronouns you don’t know yet. This includes words about parenthood, for example a person who gave birth might identify as a mother, a parent or a father, depending on their gender identity (or something else depending on the constellation), so a neutral way to refer to them would be a person who gave birth or a parent. Caregivers might also have different approaches how to raise their children in regards to the topic of gender, so do not assume children’s gender based on their appearance. (If you need to know how to refer to someone, avoid asking in a way that assumes that there are only two distinct genders, like the typical question “Is it/are you a boy or a girl” that many people constantly get.)
- If your child tends to be loud at night and the campsite happens to be very spacious and other circumstances allow for it as well, think about pitching your tent with a bit of distance to others, particularly to those (adults or children) who are sensitive to noise at night.
- While the whole group is asked to especially take care of preparing good food reliably, on time and in large enough quantities during the Childish Weeks, be aware that the Biketour has a tendency to finish cooking too late, in too small quantities and that the food might taste bland. It is probably best if you carry some backup food for your children with you. We planned the Childish Weeks in a region with a lot of infrastructure where we hope to pass a shop at least every two days, but there might be exceptions to this.
For organizers
- Dates planning:
- People with children tend to have more time constraints than people without children (life with children requires more money, so more paid work; smaller overlap between kindergarten/school holidays and caregivers’ vacation). This makes it even more important for dates to be announced early (for example so that caregivers can request holidays at work). The dates of the Childish Weeks should be fixed and published by the end of the previous year.
- School children are restricted by the school holiday times. These differ greatly among countries and even among regions inside countries. The biggest overlap across Europe seems to be the first two weeks in August, so ideally the Childish Weeks happen there. There could be separate Childish Weeks for babies and older children, since their needs are quite different, and the baby weeks are not restricted to the school holidays, but some caregivers might have children of different ages, so having Childish Weeks for all ages is better.
- 1–2 weeks is a good length. It is more likely that people will spontaneously stay longer than it is for them to arrive earlier, so it is good if the start of the week(s) is in the beginning of August.
- Information publishing: Many caregivers will have insecurities and doubts about joining. Put caregivers in contact with each other early (Signal group) and publish tips&tricks how to join. The biggest challenges are taking public transportation with bikes, luggage, children and possibly trailers, to have the right equipment transport both children and equipment on the bike, keep children warm and dry while cycling and at night), and whether the children will actually like this way of travelling.
- Route planning:
- Children can get bored on the way. Older children who already cycle themselves can get exhausted. For caregivers cycling is also more exhausting because they have to carry their children’s equipment and potentially the child as well. 35 km is probably a good daily maximum. Our usual 1 rest day per 3 cycling days works, but more cannot harm.
- It can be nice to not fix rest day dates but allow the group to decide spontaneously if the children like a place.
- It could be nice to research playgrounds, activities, attractions and possibly nice sleeping places in advance.
- Region:
- Getting there/back is one of the main challenges of joining with children. People will probably arrive by train, because travelling by long-distance bus is unfeasible (a car seat has to be brought, children cannot move around). Boarding trains and changing platforms are the biggest challenges, so the amount of changes is more relevant than the length of the journey. There should be train stations at least at the start and end point of the Childish Weeks, ideally more on the way. If possible, the route should be planned in a way that the Childish Weeks happen in the region that requires the least interchanges to get there by train from most parts of Europe.
- Ideally there are shops along the route at least every two days. Children may have unexpected needs, and caregivers have less space to carry supplies (because they carry their children’s things as well).
- Equipment:
- Carry some child-specific first-aid supplies and medicine, for example fever suppositories (paracetamol), fever thermometer (spare batteries?), saline solution (to clear blocked nose), plasters, Octenisept disinfection spray.
- Children might not like to stay inside the tent, even if it rains. Maybe we can carry a tarp or even a kind of pavilion tent to create a communal dry area.
- Kids can reach bike bags and trailers. Dangerous items like (communal) tools and medicine need to be especially protected.