In today’s blog, I want to give you the motivation and reasons to travel with your children now. whilst they are young because travel is the biggest and richest education you can offer them.
When we first started travelling with our children they were just a few weeks old. One thing I always remember people saying was – what’s the point their too young to appreciate it. Yes, I understand a 6-month-old won’t remember a particular trip to Italy. However, I believe travelling is more than just a destination checklist. It’s an experience and what your children will gain are freedom, understanding and adventure.
Reasons to travel with your children
1. To show them how big the world is
The reality is, that the world is enormous. Spending time in a place where no one knows you, really can show you that the world is a giant place. Much bigger than your village, town or city. Allowing children to experience this growing up, helps them to see that they are just tiny fish in a very large ocean. There is a place and a group out there for everyone, and this can help them to find their place in the world.
2. To unplug and connect better with each other
We tend to rely enormously on technology. Whether it is an Ipad, a TV or a games console. Now I’m not saying these are necessarily a bad thing, the world is advancing and keeping up to date with this is important. What I do think though is ensuring you unplug as a family more often and spend quality time together is vital. Travel allows this to happen as you will find yourself often without reliable Wifi, but also you are exploring more and so less time spent in front of TVs and phones.
3. To help them become adaptable and more flexible
We have always been parents that stick to a routine from day one. But when travelling routines sometimes go out the window. We started travelling with our children at just 2 months old. We quickly learnt to adapt our routines to still allow us our evening peace. It also allowed them to become more flexible with their sleep, they will fall asleep anywhere if tired; planes, prams or on our laps.
4. To encourage them to try something new
Travel can open their minds to the endless experiences available around the world. It helps them to say ‘yes’ more often. Travel also opens up new experiences such as snorkelling, skiing or even camping. Food choices can also be more limited and travel can assist in them growing up less picky or more adventurous.
5. To show them that although we all look different we are in fact the same
Children will naturally ask questions about the differences in people’s appearances or cultural differences. We use travelling as a great way to educate our children about the diversity in the world. This helps them see everyone as the same and I find they will make friends with anyone who wants to play, even if they don’t speak the same language.
6. To grow a love for adventure
This is something I believe we have instilled in our boys very well. One of the biggest benefits and my main reasons to travel with children. Travelling helps to encourage their imagination and creativity. It allows us to still go to more adult days out as we can put a spin on it for him. Recently we went to Lanzarote and we wanted to visit the Lava tubes on a guided tour, we told Roman we were going on a dinosaur hunt and he spent the entire time so excited looking for fossils and clues.
7. To teach them that multilingualism is a fun way to explore the world
Teaching them different languages is a great way to help them relate to the world, it helps them to understand that different countries speak different languages. We always love to teach Roman some basic words like hello and thank you before we travel places.
Do you travel with your children?
If you enjoyed this blog post, and like us enjoy travelling with your children. Then why not check out one of our destination guides for your next travel inspiration. We love connecting with other travel families so don’t forget to also drop us a message on Instagram so we can meet you too!
