5 Reasons Why You Should Travel More with Kids
Let’s talk about the best kind of family travel — and why it has nothing to do with martinis or massages.
When we travel with kids, it’s should be about the deep and rich learning that comes from being outside of a familiar environment. Or at least, it can be.
Here are 5 reasons why you should travel with kids. No more excuses. Book that trip and start learning together!
#1. Travel Sparks Curiosity
When kids start are exposed to new sights, sounds, smells and tastes, suddenly their senses are on full alert. Curiosity prevails and they want to learn more, experience more, know more. Insatiable curiosity is the most important factor in someone becoming a lifetime learner. Just ask Einstein.
#2. Travel Requires Flexibility
No travel is without delays, disappointment, changes of plans, and struggles. And thank goodness, because those pain points are when we often learn the most. Washing clothes in the sink, eating new foods, sleeping a night in the airport — these moments are the fodder for the best travel stories. And no doubt about it — they require a good sense of humor and a large dose of flexibility.
Kids who are used to predictable routines and schedules do a lot of learning and growing when travel requires them to be flexible and roll with the punches when things go wrong. Learning means growing and growing equals an education.
#3. Travel Encourages Empathy
Kids who travel broadly and deeply learn to recognize that people not everyone lives with the same level of opportunities or comforts as they do.
As they travel, they navigate social challenges and unequal societal structures, and they realize that loving people means being understanding the factors which cause them pain and those which shape them. This leads to empathy.
Empathy is one of the most highly under-rated skillsets our children need to acquire in building a loving and successful life.
#4. Travel Widens Friendship Circles
Kids who travel end up having friends all over the world and not just friends their age and demographic, but friends of different ages, races, faith traditions, and personal persuasions.
It gives them a rich love for diversity along with a personal understanding of a long course of events in another person’s life.
#5. Travel Inspires Creativity
The more a child is exposed to, the more they are able to create because they have reference points to draw from. Museums, festivals, cultural events, historical sites and national parks all give kids a chance to experience the width and depth of the human experience.
This way, when they go to create art or stories, code apps or games, design new spaces, or compose music, they have so many starting points that they can pull up from memory.
