Traveling with kids isn’t always an easy feat. It can be the loop-the-loop of roller coasters, yet the challenges change with every ride you and your family take. Even with the lengthy planning and the roadblocks that can sometimes come with travel, traveling with kids has an incredible effect on their lives and helps them understand the world outside of their own experiences at home. Overall, the rewards of traveling as a family are undeniable.
In recent news, Congress is considering an amendment to a Federal Aviation Administration bill that will benefit families who travel. It will guarantee that parents can sit with their children on airplanes at no additional cost, as well as accompany them through TSA checkpoints at all times. This bill will certainly help with logistics and give you peace of mind.
Being able to plan the destinations and activities that you and your children see and experience together can leave such a deep impression and make a lasting impact. Maybe your son doesn’t like history? Take him to an interactive museum or an archeological dig site to help him engage more with the history he’s learning in school. Perhaps your daughter says she doesn’t like Chinese food. Take her to China where she can through seeing and tasting that in every city she visits, the Chinese food is completely different and yet even more different than the Chinese food she has tried at home.
The beauty of traveling with kids is what they and you learn, both about the world and about one another. It goes beyond the souvenirs and roots itself in memories and knowledge. They learn to be more independent and you learn to let them. They learn about their own abilities as well as about cultures beyond their normal everyday existence. Traveling with children allows them to escape the bubble of “normality” that we as parents set up and allows them to become global citizens.
Learning about different cultures, languages and countries is a hands-on learning experience when we travel. Kids are more easily able to relate to the world they know and apply the things they learn when they live it rather than just read about it, making them more knowledgeable, compassionate, and open. It also provides opportunities to teach them not to be scared about things with which they are unfamiliar.
Sure, those social studies books are thick with information but rarely will they inspire kids to learn a language or study a culture more deeply in the same way that travel will. History can be dry when consumed through books for those who aren’t easily fascinated by it. Now imagine being able to stand in front of, see, and be in awe of the massive army of terracotta warriors within the very pits in which they were discovered in Xi’an, China. While they definitely look cool in books, witnessing first-hand their sheer numbers and their varied faces makes it that much more unforgettable.
And that extends past the basic communication that almost everyone learns when traveling in countries that speak languages different than our own, i.e. How much is this? Where is the restroom? And words for water and food. Letting your kids interact with local kids, having them order their own food, and navigating your family through a foreign place provides a comfortable and natural setting for kids to learn new languages. They realize there is a practical application to what they’ve been learning at school.
Watching your offspring interact with and learn from the world around them is one of the most rewarding feelings. What better way to connect and spend quality time with them (uninterrupted by the daily hassles of school and work) than through travel?
Contact Journeys Unparalleled if you’re interested in a group or private Family Tour to Italy, Turkey, China, or wherever is next on your and your children’s bucket lists: info@journeysunparalleled.com.