Moldova and Ukraine are countries that are heavily affected by adult labour migration. Many children have remained in these countries, separated from one or both parents. Research shows that this situation brings various negative consequences for these children. This lecture is not only about seeing them as passive victims of this phenomenon but also about how these children deal with it. What is their transnational relationship with their parents who have left the country? How do they conceptualise, imagine and represent the transnational world of their family? Based on participatory research with children, I will show how children left behind create a world of their own that goes beyond the physical proximity with their parents – a space of their immediate, physical experience.