Traveling with Kids- WHY

We travel quite a bit with our brood...whenever we can, really.  In some ways, it may seem like a bit of a waste to spend all that time, money and effort traveling with little ones who are not even going to remember the trip.  Traveling with young children is almost ALWAYS more difficult than hopping a plane with just 2 adults.  And yes...the occasional trip without the kids is definitely good for the soul (and the marriage).  But we like to travel a lot...far more often that we would choose to be away from our kids.  Hopefully we will have many years to travel alone in the future, but that is not the season we are in now. So we are embracing the opportunity to show our children the world- and finding that there are so many benefits to traveling with kids- even really young ones.

Reasons We Love to Travel with our Kids:

1) The look of discovery on their faces is worth a million bucks (or at least the price of a place ticket- which is not that much less than a million bucks these days!)

2) They discover that other people live differently from us...and yet pretty much the same as we do as well.

3) Everyone we love doesn't live near us.  It is worth traveling to see our loved ones and build those relationships.

4) They learn that people can communicate in different languages...this is something that must be discovered...you can't just tell a child this.

5) They learn that THEY can communicate in a different language...our son just lit up when he said "Salut Grossi" to our friend's Swiss grandma and she understood, and Violet discovered that she didn't need to speak the same language to play dollhouse with her little friend!

6) It helps them be flexible...they learn to sleep anywhere, eat new things, meet new people.

7) They recognize places they've been when they see them referenced in their lives...there's the Eiffel Tower!  That looks like the Alps!  There's Mt. Rushmore.  We've BEEN to that place!

8) They discover that they CAN travel.  Planes, trains, automobiles...they develop a comfort level and confidence that they, too, can navigate the world.

9) The world becomes really small for them.  Since returning from Europe this summer, my son has his next 10 trips planned...Egypt to see Abu Simbel and the Ramasseum, Peru to visit Cuzco and Machu Pichu (with a side trip to Easter Island). Singapore to visit Aunt Hannah and Uncle Jacob.  China to see the Potala Palace and the Great Wall.  We should all have the chance to dream about trips we will take without thoughts of time off and money even crossing our mind.

10) Family memories....funny stories...tales of near disaster-turned-humor...who else would I rather spend time with than my funny family?


So there you have it...WHY we travel with our kids.  Stay tuned for the next installment...HOW we travel with kids.  Read our travel log from our big summer trip here.