2025-03-09T20:40:02Z Read in app The author moved to Thailand when her son was 1 year old. Courtesy of the author This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? When my son was 1, we moved from San Francisco to Thailand. People in Thailand welcomed us with open arms and helped me when needed.We moved back to the US when he was 5 and experienced culture shock. When my son was 1, I moved from the tumultuous San Francisco Bay Area to the rolling hills of Northeastern Thailand. When I stepped off the plane, I could tell my parenting experience would be different.Once on the ground, we hopped into a courtesy van that would take us on another hourslong journey to Loei Province, our final destination in rural Northeastern Thailand. As we stopped to fuel up at one of the many 7-Elevens dotting the highway, I ducked into the store to buy some essentials.Unfortunately, my screaming baby had other plans. He kicked and arched his back as I tried to pay the cashier, only to be suddenly whisked away and soothed by a middle-age Thai woman (and perfect stranger) while I fished through my pockets for the unfamiliar Thai currency.I'd soon learn this was the norm in Thailand: I never got dirty looks when my son was tearful or noisy, only an endless stream of adoring aunties ready to help the moment they were needed even before they were asked.I was a helicopter mom in the USAs a former helicopter mom, this was new for me. Parenting in the San Francisco Bay area had been a notably solo venture, especially as a young mom whose friends weren't very interested in kids, let alone starting families.When we settled into our new home in Loei with a small community of expats, I learned the extent of the Thai people's friendliness and camaraderie. I enlisted the help of a nanny named Ot, who insisted we call her Auntie with the familiar PaPa Ot became a true auntie to my son and, frankly, like a second mother to me. With several kids of her own and much more experience than I had, she showed me how to soothe my baby's mosquito bites and remove the relentless cradle cap that cropped up repeatedly in the sweltering humidity.People took care of usShe showed my son how to eat in the traditional Thai fashion, grabbing and molding sticky rice into a tiny bowl with his fingers to scoop up a morsel of meat or vegetables. She also taught us both how to speak Thai, though my son was always ahead of me. On weekends, she'd invite us to the local river to swim, another opportunity to meet the Thai villagers and learn about their way of life. She even showed me the wall where she'd printed his photo after months of helping to care for my son and hung it as if he were a part of the family.Then, there was Jung Niem, the groundskeeper who tended the gardens in our little expat community. He'd invite my truck-obsessed son to sit in the front seat of his work truck with him and paw at the steering wheel, never too busy or distracted to take the time. The office manager, Pi Pat, would routinely grab my kiddo and plop him on her lap, laughing as he banged on the keyboard and terrorized the tiny office.When we moved to Bangkok, the welcome continued. Our high-rise apartment complex was like a little village, with two restaurants, a dry cleaner, a 7-Eleven, and two massage shops on the ground floor. Mothers and kids were always outside, ready to play, and we didn't need to perfect the language to make friends.When we moved back to the US I experienced culture shockThe true culture shock set in when we moved back to the US when my son was five. I had forgotten how insular people could be, even parents with kids who ostensibly needed me as much as I needed them. Between competing schedules and priorities, pinning down a playdate was akin to coordinating a rocket launch.In Thailand, I finally learned how to relax and accept the help I needed as a young, inexperienced mother. The Thai people welcomed me and my son with open arms, no questions asked: community was a given, not a luxury. On returning to my country of origin, it struck me what poverty of community we often face in our individualist culture, especially in a frenetic metropolis like the Bay Area.Thailand taught me what a powerful gift it is to receive community support as a parent, giving new meaning to the oft-used but seldom-lived adage, "It takes a village."