Yes, we’ve all been there. Crammed in the middle seat of a much too crowded airplane internally cursing at the weeping toddlers in the seat behind us, thinking that babies shouldn’t even be allowed on board. What good can traveling be for them if they won’t remember any of it anyway, right? Well psychological studies beg to differ.
Photo retrieved from http://www.quickmeme.com/Baby-on-plane
Traveling with your children is a gateway to family bonding. As a pilot’s daughter who has been on multiple family trips, I can attest to that. It’s a time in which parents are usually not working and children are not off at school, which provides more parent-child time than children would usually be exposed to back home.
New experiences and sights can spark conversation topics between parents and their children. A child might wonder why people dress a certain way or what the language being spoken at a local restaurant is, presenting the parents with a valuable educational opportunity.
Photo retrieved from: http://www.businessinsider.com/bucket-list-family-garrett-gee-best-advice-for-entrepreneurs-2017-1
Also, removing your kids for the same daily monotonous routine they experience at home is extremely beneficial for their development and growth. As Dr. Rabbi Carr stated in his article for the Huffington Post, “There is simply no substitute for travel. It’s an enormous teaching opportunity for your children…it inevitably provides a host of teachable moments that you couldn’t possibly have predicted or prepared for in advance” (2012). Yes, school is extremely important and an incredible aid in a child fostering his or her education, yet there is knowledge that can only be acquired through first-hand experience.
By traveling with your children, you are exposing them to new cultures, ideas, scenery, people, languages, food, and much, much more; you are presenting them to a whole new world. One they could have never quite experienced from looking at a textbook. For some inspiration and insight into what traveling with your children can actually be like, visit this family’s amazing journey around the world.
Isabella Arteaga
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