Kids on the Go
Why Children Should Travel
"You can kiss travel goodbye..."
"Why would you take a baby. They won't remember?"
"Kids shouldn't be on planes."
"Maybe you should stick to Disneyland."
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Yes, these are all comments that we've received (and I am sure many of you have, too!)
But it hasn't stopped us from traveling and shouldn't influence your decisions either!
Travel has amazing benefits for everyone and children are no exception.
Builds Family Relationships
Travel can improve relationships within the family. Participation in activities together have long been known to improve family cohesion and attachment. This has downstream implications as children with strong familial bonds have better relationships with their peers as well. Travel has also been shown to improve marital relationships because it gives a break from the day to day grind and allows partners to reconnect. These breaks also have been shown to increase overall satisfaction by reducing stress and allowing time to disconnect. These benefits also extend to including multi-generational travel with grandparents or extended family members.
Supports Language Skills
Exposing a child to new cultures and languages is a significant boon for growth. The brain develops most rapidly during the first five years of life. Exposing young children to new people, languages, and cuisines normalizes diversity in their young minds and makes them more tolerant and receptive of those around them.
Fosters Tolerance
Enhances Education
Several studies have shown that travel is associated with higher engagement and better grades in school. Travel also has longer term educational impacts, too, including higher graduation rates and increased interest in postgraduate programs.
There is evidence that young children are able to distinguish different speech sounds more easily than their adult counterparts. Hearing new languages helps keep this early wiring intact. Young children also are less likely to speak their language than adults are. Children are wired to play with one another, despite a language barrier. It's amazing how quickly young children absorb other languages or find workarounds to play with new friends.
Encourages Adaptability
Anyone who has traveled can share an anecdote of a plan gone awry. Whether it's a missed connection, a hotel that didn’t quite hold up to the website photos, or a disruption due to weather, these problems allow children to practice flexibility and problem-solving. They also get to watch their parents model real-time problem solving.
Temperaments
Children are more adaptable than most adults when given proper support. But, everyone's temperament is different and will impact how easy your child and family will find travel. Thankfully, there are tools we can use to support children both before, during, and after travel, based on their temperament and how they react and adapt to new experiences.
Drs. Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas studied personality in the sixties and seventies. They concluded there were nine temperaments and personality is determined by combination of these temperaments. Most importantly, they stated that all were good, but admitted some may be more challenging. The doctors also stressed the "goodness of fit" between parents (and teachers) and their children. Understanding where our and our children's temperaments line-up or clash is helpful in understanding how everyone operates and set reasonable expectations. The Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation has a Goodness of Fit Assessment and other tools.
You can also download our family scoring version to use when planning travel.
Activity
Activies refers to the overall motor activity including gross (running, jumping) and fine (drawing, cutting)
Distractibility
Distractibility refers to the way external stimulus interferses with behavior and focus
Persistence
Persistence is the willingness to pursue something in face of obstactles, attention span the duration of the pursuit
Adaptability
Adaptability refers to how you react to a new situation over time, the ability to adjust and accept change
Intensity
Intensity describes the level of emotional responses from sulking to tantrum
Regularity
Regularity or rhythmicity refers to the predicatbility of biologial functions such as sleep, hunger, and bathroom needs
Approachability
Approachability is the initial reponse to something new - to either apporoach or withdraw
Mood
Mood describes the tendency to react in a predominantly positive or negative way (or sunny vs serious)
Sensitivity
Sensitivity refers to the level of response to physical sensory inputs like light, noise, smell, or texture.
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The combination of these temperaments along with other family members will influence how you plan travel. High energy kid? Walking tour. Very regular or rhythm kid? Build in extra time for jetlag and adjustment. A slow to warm kid? Avoid large group tours with lots of new people.
And the list goes on! But catering to everyone's needs is a recipe for succeess.
Including Kids in Planning
Give Options
For the littlest travels who have no concept of budget, time, or appropriateness, options work best. Use guidebooks or picture books from the library, search engine images, and videos to show your child what is available in the area. Let them select a few activities for your vacation.
Consider Special Interests
We all have things we are passionate about - incorporating these activities will make for a more meaningful experience for everyone (and hopefully less complaining). One upside to these more varied activites (children's museums, aquariums, family cooking classes, etc) means a unique itinerary and experiences!
Plan an Outing
For older children, allow them to plan a day. Give them a budget and time frame. Help them walk through logistics like transition time, meals, opening hours, etc. Start small with an outing in your home town or by breaking it down into steps like letting them plan a meal or transit between agreed upon places
Who doesn't love a bit of control? Especially little kids?
So give it to them! Involve them in planning so they have a say and buy-in for your vacation.
How much control will vary by age, but its never too early to start
Before You Go
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