Away from the comfort and routines of home, my kids are not just thinking about their latest school assignment, how to delay doing a dreaded task, or when they will get to play video games next.<\/p>\n
When we travel, my kids come alive \u2013 full of curiosity, observations, and a new level of confidence and connections.<\/em><\/p>\n They wonder how things relate.<\/p>\n They take on new roles, asking how I know the way around an airport (\u201cDid you know there are signs almost everywhere you go telling you how to get to your next place?\u201d<\/em>, I ask them), then being given the opportunity to navigate us using those new skills.<\/p>\n They wonder why it\u2019s harder to figure out where we\u2019re going, buy things, order food, and more when in one place versus the other (\u201cIt\u2019s much easier to communicate with people when we can speak in the same language,\u201d we explain).<\/em><\/p>\n They step up to interact with new people, seeing themselves more as peers amoungst others, whereas at home they fall into their role as children whose parents do more of the talking (Why are the monkeys following us around town<\/em>, they ask).<\/p>\n They notice and observe what makes places and people the same or different wherever we go (\u201cWhy do more people in this country wear head scarves?\u201d they\u2019ve asked).<\/em><\/p>\n More and more families are choosing long-term, enriching travel experiences as a way not only to enjoy quality family time together, but to foster a sense of cultural understanding, awareness, and provide hands-on experiential learning\u00a0for their children,\u00a0even when the tradeoff involves homeschooling, selling of the main family home, or nomadic travel.<\/p>\n The increase in these new forms of family travel begs a further, deeper question. This is a\u00a0question increasingly\u00a0posed by those\u00a0who wonder about the pros and cons of taking younger kids on trips that may seem extravagant (or perhaps unrewarding).<\/p>\n Is travelling with kids an actual investment that has long-term benefits for the child?\u00a0Is it more than a simple luxury for\u00a0parents for\u00a0their own enjoyment?<\/p>\n Research shows a confounding amount of support that travel has\u00a0long-lasting and important benefits for children. <\/strong><\/p>\n Travel can play\u00a0an important role not just in creating precious\u00a0memories, but in strengthening family bonds, contributing to\u00a0a child’s leadership skills, and increasing\u00a0a child’s performance in school.<\/p>\n In a recent study involving over 20,000 students from Kindergarten through 5th<\/sup> grade, the U.S. Department of Education identified a significant link between academic achievement and taking a family vacation<\/a>, even after controlling for correlations such as the economic standing of the participants (i.e. the control group and kids who travelled were of the same economic standing).<\/p>\n The study found that<\/p>\n When my kids were very young, our family had the pleasure of spending an evening with our friends Keith and Angela,\u00a0and their\u00a0two teenage kids. I\u2019d never seen teenage siblings\u00a0–\u00a0a boy and a girl at that\u00a0-so courteous and friendly with one another. When I asked them\u00a0what they\u00a0thought contributed to their kids’ great relationship, they immediately shared how,\u00a0every summer, they all take a\u00a0month long camping trip\u00a0\u2013 just the four of them – and how the sibling\u00a0bonding that took place during those trips helped them learn to rely on one another and grow together.<\/p>\n Strong sibling relationships have benefits well beyond the time that kids\u00a0are living in their parents home; it\u2019s something that will solidify their\u00a0relationship throughout their lives.<\/p>\n \u201cTravel as a family creates time and space for interpersonal bonding unlike almost anything you can do at home. Strip away the tangles and pressures of everyday life and you suddenly find yourself able to appreciate one another more fully and live life more deeply, all as a step in creating a robust family dynamic. The result is a more understanding and self-supporting family intimacy,\u201d said Ethan Gelber in an article on International Expeditions<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Spending time as a family unit creates opportunities for parents and siblings to interact in new ways, growing through shared experiences.<\/p>\n When in school, my children find comfort and form close bonds with their peers, which is fantastic for them socially, but also takes away their interdependence on each other. Spending time together as a family during travel, they strengthen the bonds and interdependency on one another. My son and daughter learned to surf side by side; the three kids discovered that they could bring hermit crabs back t our beach house, and set up little homes for them to crawl between; we\u2019ve gotten lost a hundred times, jumped into oceans across the world, and discovered new foods together. These are both shared memories we can draw on as a family, side-by-side growth experiences, and a places where they\u2019ve been tested and learned to rely on one another.<\/p>\n \u201cTravel defines who you are as a family,\u201d says Laura Manske, editor of\u00a0Family Travel: The Farther You Go, the Closer You Get (Travelers’ Tales Guides)<\/a>\u00a0\u201cThe more time you spend with your children, the closer you get.\u201d<\/p>\n Go somewhere new with your family, hang out in a place\u00a0where other kids are playing as well, and no doubt your kids will make some new friends.<\/p>\n When you’re traveling, these friends can bring a whole new set of diversity and cultural perspective your kids may not normally get.<\/p>\n When travelling in Europe, our kids made friends with two Slovenian girls, and two Dutch boys, and spent hours comparing stories and playing games with one another. They laughed as they shared “American” peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with their new Slovenian friends, and got to taste some of the Slovenian family’s food. Upon returning, their feeling of connectedness to these two countries, due to their direct interactions with people from there, was so much richer. They’ve had an opportunity to write to their friends and continue the friendship as well.<\/p>\n Seeing and experiencing historical sites up close can make history come alive for young people and help them to make sense of the names, dates and events that they learn in school. Learning a new language or about another culture, in a classroom, can only pale in comparison to hearing a language firsthand, participating in a conversation in a different dialect, or experiencing a new culture by walking\u00a0the streets in a foreign\u00a0country.<\/p>\n Most of school learning is done through books or in classrooms. Travelling, on the other hand, gives children real-world applications to what they study in school.<\/em> Children can stand where battles were had during the Civil War, see the creations of Native Americans, explore a castle and the treasuries of a royal family, or stand where walls once divided empires.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Travel gives children the flexibility to cope with unfamiliar surroundings and learn to thrive in them.<\/p>\n \u201cThe world is moving so fast today that by the time our kids graduate, everything will have changed,\u201d Matthew Upchurch, Chairman and CEO of Virtuoso, said in a Yahoo! Travel article<\/a>. \u201cYou\u2019d better teach them how to be creative thinkers, how to collaborate with other human beings, and how to fuel their passion.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s adjusting to a new time zone, operating with less clothing and creature comforts than one is used to, or dealing an unexpected detour in a travel itinerary, there\u2019s no doubt that travelling teaches us how to adapt to new situations.<\/p>\n Any traveler can easily tell you of one if not many bumps in the road on their journey.<\/p>\n The lessons, for kids, come from pushing through the challenges \u2013 how do we use the limited resources we have to solve this problem? How do we call upon our patience when a flight is delayed or cancelled? How do we work with others to help us understand something when we don\u2019t speak the same language?<\/p>\n Our kids\u2019 resilience was tested when we found ourselves stranded in Venice last summer. At 9pm, after a full day of walking around the streets of Venice, we were anxious to get back to our rental car and return to our \u201chome\u201d for the night. Unfortunately, the car key was nowhere to be found! My husband and I went into problem-solving mode, was it locked in the car? Did it fall out of a pocket while we were at a restaurant? If we couldn\u2019t find it, what could the rental car company (based out of Denmark) do to help? Two hours later, with an exhausted 5, 7 and 10 year old falling asleep in my arms and holed up in a hotel lobby that we were considering just booking for the night, my husband returned from his search around town \u2013 cell phones nearly out of power \u2013 without a key. Finding a cab to take us an hour away was yet another challenge \u2013 the cab drivers spoke very little English and we ended up relying on an American in line who was living there to help translate our request. We ended up safely back at our resort, but had to delay our next travel for two more days while we worked on securing a replacement key from the rental car company in Copenhagen. And, all the while, I kept thinking what an amazing life lesson this was for our kids.<\/p>\n They learned how to deal with uncertain circumstances, problem-solve, rely on others, be flexible with changes to travel plans, and how to make the best of it. I may not wish this sort of travel trouble on other families, but I certainly can say that the lessons we all learned from the experience helped us grow. And, as I often thing when one deals with difficult circumstances, it teaches perspective for ongoing troubles. Now, when we have a little bump in our plans on an outing, we can all call up the trouble we had in Venice and understand that this little bump, is not such a big deal.<\/p>\n In many American cities, an interesting phenomenon is taking place where our tourist experience is widely being shaped by a conglomerate of retail shops that dominate many commercial areas and public landscapes. Travelling to new and diverse destinations helps kids understand and appreciate diversity, cultural uniqueness and historical significance.<\/p>\n Tasting foreign foods, hearing different languages and visiting homes in other countries can be an eye-opening experience. It helps kids broaden their depth of understanding about the differences in the world \u2013 the variety and range of life circumstances, cultures, geography and people is much broader than most children can imagine or be aware of without seeing it for themselves. And with awareness, comes understanding.<\/p>\n “The one thing parents tend to do is underestimate what their kids will like,” Rainer Jenss, former publisher of the magazine\u00a0National Geographic Kids and founder of Family Travel Association <\/em>says. “That goes for food, for places to visit…It’s often the parents who are hung up on ‘well, kids want routine. When kids are taken out of their comfort zone it feeds this curiosity that kids have. And it’s important to do that while they’re young, because eventually that curiosity fades a bit.”<\/p>\n Malaka Hilton, owner of the travel agency Viruoso, lauds travel\u2019s role in shaping the worldview of her two children. Hilton has taken her\u00a0children\u00a0to destinations including Zimbabwe, Egypt, Cambodia, India, and Russia. \u201cThey are more aware of the world and more accepting of race, religion, and culture,\u201d she said in an article in Yahoo! Travel.<\/p>\n Whether kids are in a place that is actually worse off than where they live, or is simply different, travel provides the perspective for kids to appreciate their own lives. Most kids, regardless of how much they\u2019ve enjoyed their travel, are also anxious and excited when it\u2019s time to come home. They appreciate the comforts and safety of the place they call home and can instantly feel gratitude towards and appreciation for their \u201cnormal life.\u201d<\/p>\n For Malaka Hilton, owner of Florida-based\u00a0Admiral Travel<\/a>,\u00a0travel has unequivocally shaped the worldview of her two children, 13 and 11.\u00a0Hilton has taken her kids to destinations such as Zimbabwe, Egypt (where they had family connections), Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, and Russia. “They recognize that they are extremely fortunate to have the lives they have here.\u201d said in an article in Yahoo! Travel article<\/a>.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve no doubt also seen or experienced something unpleasant along the way \u2013 whether it be simply the difficulties of travel, weather they don\u2019t like, or an activity they weren\u2019t fond of \u2013 or if it is actually getting a taste of a place or people who are less fortunate than them \u2013 either way they gain a sense of gratitude for what they may have other wise taken for granted.<\/p>\n Experiencing adversity\u00a0firsthand builds perspective and strength of character.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of my favorite things I see in my children when traveling, is how their freedom from typical roles and routines allows them to step outside their comfort zone in so many ways. None is more astonishing to me, than how they become more like peers in our family adventure, equally willing to ask questions of others around them, walk up to a shopkeeper to buy something, or converse ideally while waiting for a train, just like us adults.<\/p>\n Often, merely because the sheer work of schluffing items back and forth from car to train to plane to hotel, the kids are asked to step up and take on more work, such as packing their own suitcases, or reviewing a place before we check out for any forgotten items. They take on many more roles and responsibilities than would be asked of them at home.<\/p>\n Kids learn how to navigate new places, and as they put these new skills into practice, they gain confidence.<\/p>\n \u201cTravel allows these role breakouts\u00a0because everything is new and fluid.\u00a0You\u2019re in a different place, trying new things and expanding boundaries,” Jessie Voigts s<\/em>aid in a Family Travel Association article<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In our modern society, we can\u2019t help be trying to think one step ahead on a daily basis. At work, we may be thinking about what we\u2019re going to cook for dinner. While taking the kids to activities, we\u2019re wondering when the kids will have time for homework, or planning our weekend. Our kids see this in our behaviors and actions \u2013 we may be distracted when they tell us about something they created at school, or we may be checking our cell phones in between activities.<\/p>\n Jessie Voigts s<\/em>aid in a Family Travel Association article<\/a> , \u201cWhether it\u2019s a monthlong road trip or a visit to a beach, near or far, it is a change of pace and view that teaches us to live in the present \u2013 a rare gift in today\u2019s ultraconnected world.\u201d<\/p>\n But travelling takes us out of our routines, and allows us each to focus more on the present. Our kids are always seeing and modelling our behaviors, and when we slow down to enjoy the present moment on our travels, our kids learn from and model that too. Everyone in the family is able to be present, and enjoy the moment more during the special quality time that is created during family travels.<\/p>\n Travel also increases more possibility that we feel a sense of awe,\u00a0through our encounters with new and amazing pieces of geography, culture or history.\u00a0Recent studies<\/a>\u00a0show that feeling a sense of awe\u00a0elicits one’s increased interest in\u00a0volunteering time to help others,\u00a0preferences for experiential goods rather than material goods, and a higher\u00a0satisfaction with life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOne reason why I love traveling, especially with my family: it expands our worldview, global knowledge and experience, and offers unlimited learning opportunities.\u201d Jessie Voigts s<\/em>aid in a Family Travel Association article<\/a><\/p>\n When it all comes down to it, I believe that the more interconnected we are, the more we can see ourselves as part of more than just a piece of any\u00a0one small community. The more that we are shaped by the perspective\u00a0that we are part of this diverse and complex\u00a0world, the more we can see ourselves as a\u00a0participant in contributing\u00a0to solutions on a global level, that we can be part of change that can shape the world. When we travel and see how others view us, how rich and diverse life’s experiences are, we understand how we fit in to a very exciting story of life that is beyond one person’s experience, and we find ourselves more connected and strong through this perspective.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t travel with young kids. Wait until they\u2019re older. They won\u2019t remember it anyway,\u201d some parents say. Think again. Their adult selves might not remember the trip, but their developing brains and personalities feel the effects. \u201cThere is a lot of formal research that shows so much is being absorbed at a young age,\u201d Matthew Upchurch, Chairman and CEO of Virtuoso, said in a Yahoo! Travel article<\/a>.<\/p>\nHow Family Travel Enables Experiential Learning and Global Citizenship<\/h1>\n
What are kids really taking away from travel experiences?<\/em><\/h2>\n
What\u00a0Travel Teaches Children<\/h1>\n
1. Travel helps increase a child’s intellectual capacity<\/h2>\n
![\"_IMG_8308\"](\"http:\/\/inspiredmotherhood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_8308-e1466546030445-768x1024.jpg\")
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2. Travel strengthens family and sibling bonds<\/h1>\n
![\"__DSCN1838-sibling\"](\"http:\/\/inspiredmotherhood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/DSCN1838-sibling-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\n3. Travel creates real-world\u00a0connections to other people, places and cultures<\/h1>\n
![\"IMG_7166-crop\"](\"http:\/\/inspiredmotherhood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_7166-crop-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/p>\n4. Travel enriches\u00a0historical and cultural\u00a0learning<\/h1>\n
![\"berlin-turned\"](\"http:\/\/inspiredmotherhood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Berlin-Turned.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n5. Travel increases kids\u2019 flexibility and resilience<\/h2>\n
6.\u00a0Travel encourages appreciation and openness to differences<\/h2>\n
![\"IMG_7511-differences-crop\"](\"http:\/\/inspiredmotherhood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_7511-differences-crop-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\n7. Travel fosters gratitude<\/h2>\n
8. Travel teaches responsibility, confidence and independence<\/h2>\n
9. Travel increases mindfulness and a sense of awe<\/h2>\n
10. Travel shapes children\u2019s worldview as a global citizen<\/h2>\n
![\"holland-turned\"](\"http:\/\/inspiredmotherhood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Holland-Turned-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n