6 Reasons to Travel With Kids While They’re Young

If you’re a new parent and you’ve always traveled and explored new places, you may be confused on your way forward.

Do you stop traveling until your baby is grown? Do you start traveling with them? Is it safe to travel with your kids when they’re still so young?

All of these are valid concerns.

Some parents feel like it’s a waste of resources because the kids won’t remember about the trips anyway.

Well, if you’re still on the fence on whether or not to travel with kids, this article may help straighten things up for you.

Here are 6 reasons why traveling with your kids from a young age is a good idea:

1. It’s a Chance for Your Kids to Learn New Cultures

In our society, many people are born in one city, study in the same town, work in the same town, and get married in the same place. While this seems okay for many people, it may limit your potential.

There are so many advantages of learning another culture.

Some of them include:

Open-Mindedness

Learning a new culture requires you to ask questions and understand the perspective of others. This can help your kids have some level of cultural sensitivity and avoid embarrassment in the future.

Learning How to Relate With Strangers

In most cases, the best places to travel with kids will be far from your country. This means they will meet people from all walks of life.

And some of them may not even understand English (or other languages) or your native language. This will help your toddler invent ways to communicate with people regardless of the language barrier.

You may argue that your kids will learn all that from books, online or social media platforms, but the only way to learn about other cultures is by being in contact with people.

Being in the real world at an early age will help your baby learn how to make long-lasting relationships even in the future.

2. Traveling Gives Your Kids an International Experience

Besides traveling to Europe with your kids, there are other countries that are child friendly. You can check this article on 30 best countries to travel with kids.

Traveling to different countries gives your child a different experience from their everyday life.

For instance, you may get a chance to travel by train, which doesn’t happen every day.

However, like many parents, you’ll need to learn how to travel with kids to survive the journey because we know how grumpy kids can get.

Here are some basic tips for traveling with kids:

Buy the Best Seat Protectors for Car Seats

If you have toddlers, you know it’s almost impossible to keep the car clean.

There are always food leftovers or footprints all over. A car seat protector will help keep your car clean during road trips with kids.

Don’t Forget to Take the Most Necessary Items

Kids are sensitive, and they have very many needs.

Carrying the right items can save you a lot of trouble. Make a checklist of everything they may need in terms of clothing, food, safety, and handling emergencies.

Lower Your Expectations

Just because your child has been saying traveling by air is their dream doesn’t mean they’ll be merry once it happens. It could be scary, and they may not even like it.

Don’t get discouraged, be patient with them, and allow them time to adjust.

Don’t Forget About Time Zones During International Trips

It’s always best to adjust to the time zones as soon as you arrive.

In most cases, it may mean keeping your kids busy to stay up late the first day.

Start With Short Trips

Before you start traveling with your kids in other countries, start small.

Remember that kids need time to adjust.

Simply start by visiting sites in your country and grow as time passes by.

 

Related Article:  12 Reasons Why Visit New York at Least Once in Your Life

 

3. Your Kids Can Become Bilingual

Traveling the world with your kids allows them to meet people who speak different languages.

This can motivate your kids to learn other languages that their school program offers. And this advantage is reason enough to travel with your kids.

Being biangular comes with so many benefits.

Here are some of the advantages:

It Boosts Brainpower

Being bilingual requires your baby to think outside the box.

Therefore, it can improve your kid’s multitasking ability, creativity, attention control, and problem-solving skills.

Additional Advantage in the Job Market

This may be irrelevant to a one-year-old, but years pass by so fast, and before you realize it, your baby is an adult.

The ability to know other markets and speak different languages may expand their opportunities in the market.

Employers are looking for people who can communicate with foreign clients.

Improves Your Kid’s Social Life

Speaking a different language can enhance your kid’s social life and confidence.

Simply stated, the more languages you speak, the more people you can communicate with in the world.

It Gives Your Kid an Academic Advantage

Research has shown that bilingual children perform and develop better than monolingual kids.

Bilingualism improves a kid’s social skills, cognitive functions, emotional skills, and academic skills, all of which come in handy in the future.

4. Kids Learn to Cope & Go With the Flow

The best way to teach your kids real-life lessons is by traveling with them around the world. There is so much that your kid can learn from the struggles that they encounter during the trips.

Some of the lessons include:

Critical Thinking

This can be one of the most crucial lessons in life. You’ll not always be aside to help them solve their dilemmas.

Traveling adventures always present opportunities for critical thinking.

For example, during a trip to Africa, your bicycle is likely to get stuck in mad when cycling. Your kid may have to think of ways to unstuck themselves for the first time, which could boost their creativity and thinking.

Compassion

Chances are your kids don’t know anything about kids who live below their social-economic class and how they survive.

Going on international travels with your kids may help them appreciate their lifestyle, and show compassion to less fortunate children. This ensures your kids grow up with gratitude and the urge to be kind and help others.

Resilience

Leave alone kids, we’ve all seen adults who can’t get past any setbacks. This explains the high numbers of people with depression and anxiety.

If you don’t want your kids to be the kind that throws in the towel every time a door closes, start traveling with them. That long walk in the desert under the scorching sun or a raining night during camping teaches your kids to overcome difficulties.

Allow your kids to experience real life when they’re still young. It’s every parent’s instinct to want to protect their kids from any stressful situation.

But what happens when they grow and they’re faced with challenges?

Travel with your kids and let them know it’s possible to have a few bad days in life, and they can get past them.

5. Independence

Traveling with kids can give them a sense of responsibility, which is why it’s valuable for them.

Also, travel gives you an opportunity to allow them to do something on their own.

For starters, you can assign them the duty of finding the next family vacation spot. They can research the language, food, and location for the venue.

As they grow older, they can do more things like mapping out the way to the airport or the currency of the countries.

Thanks to the internet, by the time your kid is seven they’ll be able to get the next location for your trip, the country’s currency, and point out the country on the map.

And with a little push, they may even know how the residents say, ‘Hello’ and ‘Thank you’.

This may not seem a big deal, but your child carries forward the organizational and decision-making skills to other sectors of their life.

6. You Create Beautiful Memories with Your Kids

As we mentioned earlier, one reason why many parents don’t travel with their kids is that they think they’ll not remember when they grow up.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

I’m sure you have some childhood memories.

You can either let your child’s memory be luxury travel with you or a simple toy that every kid in the neighborhood had.

Take every chance you get and travel with your kid. Take as many photos and videos as you can, so that they can watch their experiences once they’re grown.

Besides, it’s cheaper to travel with kids when they’re young. They’ll probably sit on your lap during flights, or be highly discounted if they need to sit.

Many hotels also have porta cot, which saves on accommodation costs.

The same applies during the site seeing as kids under a certain age are not charged an entry fee.

So Should You Travel with Your Kids?

Travelling comes with so many benefits for young kids. It broadens their perspective, allows them to learn different languages, cultures, etc.

However, if you decide to travel with your kids, make sure you show them the best travel tips and find the best travel places for them.

Also, make sure you learn all the safety traveling tips to ensure the kids travel safely.