My nephew is coming to visit me for the first time this summer. As a parent, what do you want the guardian (me) to know or consider?

My 12 year old nephew will be in year 7 after the summer. He’s coming to visit me for the first time. He’ll be staying with me and my hubby for 5-ish weeks. There is a language barrier between them but I’ll be around most of the time when he’s not in class (he’s coming to learn English and will go to camp/class).

We are an adult-only household. This is also the first time we’re having a child stay over. I plan to give him a video tour before he arrives, set up his living area, and set up a desk space for him. We’ll be communicating some ground rules about living in our household, hygiene, habits, and safety. Plan is, he’ll be “attached to my hip” until he learns how to go some places by himself (e.g. commute to class alone or to the corner store 10 minutes walk away).

Of course I’m a bit nervous. He’s a reserved child so I’m relatively not worried about him causing mischief. We live in a safe area too. I’m more concerned about me not knowing how to deal with potential emotional outbursts, him being a picky eater, or him not able to adapt to the environment/classes and miss home.

We have a good relationship, but I wouldn’t say extremely close since he’s a teen, we’re both introverts, and there were a few pandemic years where we didn’t see each other.

Hubby is ok with the stay, but that’s a bit of a wildcard too since they’ve never met.

Nephew’s parent is on board of course. We usually agree on the general big things.

If you were having a child stay over, what other things might you consider, or any words of advice, encouragement you can give me? (The good, bad, ugly?)

If your child is visiting another relative, what would you like your child or the relative to know for the stay to go as smoothly and enjoyable as possible?