If you’ve enjoyed a life of travel pre-kids, you might think those days are on hold for the next 18 or so years. Those adult vacations might feel like a thing of the past, but travel doesn’t have to be! Vacations might look different for a while, but you don’t have to completely put life and travel on hold when you have babies and small children.
Traveling with a baby or little kids might seem daunting, but it’s something we’ve been doing since our oldest daughter turned 3 months old. Now, with three kids, tons of road trips, flights, and 4 countries under our belt with the girls, we can confidently say that it is worth traveling with your kids. We have intentionally created a love of travel in our kids that has made traveling with them much more manageable.
Traveling with young children doesn’t have to be a nightmare. It might feel easier to leave the kids at home or take a break from traveling, but sometimes the struggle is totally worth it. Now, I’m all about an adult vacation, don’t get me wrong! But I’m also pro-family vacation. Here are 8 reasons to take your kids and why you shouldn’t give up on travel when you have young kids.
It’s a First-Hand Learning Experience
Traveling with kids can be a great learning experience for them, exposing them to new cultures, foods, nature, and experiences that they would otherwise miss out on. Give your kids the opportunity to see the world, even if it’s just a neighboring city or state, they are experiencing something out of their daily life.
Those trips to see the ocean, mountains, or dessert take what was before simply images from books and TV, and make them real life. Eating street food in San Diego or San Antonio, drinking tea from a little shop in Philadelphia Chinatown, or tasting a croissant from a French bakery in Paris opens their senses to new flavors and creates lifelong memories in the process. Visits to local monuments and museums make history come alive.
Even if your little ones are too young to remember it, you will still have the memories of sharing this with them. My kiddos don’t remember every detail of their travels, but they love to hear us tell stories while they see themselves in the photos. We can recreate the memories together and bring the photos to life. It makes them excited to travel more as they get older and want to revisit the places we talk about.
It Creates Lasting Memories and Strengthens Bonds
Traveling as a family can create lasting memories and strengthen bonds between family members. I don’t know about you, but daily life can feel monotonous. While routine is important, it can lead to feelings of boredom and it’s easy to get to a place of complacency. It’s easy to go about each day without intentionally making memories and connections with each other.
When we travel as a family, we set aside time to be together to create new memories and share experiences. Without the distractions of daily life, our focus is on having fun together. And all of that fun, intentional time creates memories that you’ll forever share with your kids and is a lifelong reward.
It Helps Them Become More Adaptable
If you’ve ever traveled, you know things can go awry. Delays or cancelations at the airport, the rain ruins your beach plans, someone gets a case of food poisoning, the rental car gets a flat tire, the Airbnb host decides to cancel your accommodation…I could go on and on.
One of the most important things you can do when you travel is have an attitude of flexibility. If you’re able to go with the flow and improvise, you’re going to have a much better experience. If you have a missed nap or two, it’s ok. Kids are more resilient and flexible than you think. It’s often the parents who struggle more with adaptability than the kids.
The way we react greatly affects how our kids will react to unwanted changes. If we model adaptability in new environments and cultures, it will help them become more adaptable and flexible in life. Traveling is the perfect opportunity to teach them this important character trait, as there will almost always be challenges that have to be met on a family vacation.
It Provides an Opportunity to Teach Them Life-Skills
Traveling with kids is the perfect opportunity to teach them important life skills, such as budgeting, planning, and problem-solving. When kids have more buy-in on the trip planning, they’re going to feel more involved and excited about the trip.
Older kids can help plan the travel itineraries. (Check out these travel itinerary templates from Canva!) Task them with finding tours, comparing hotels or Airbnb’s, planning out the day at the theme park, choosing restaurants, etc. You can also assign them a budget for the day, and have them find activities that will fit within that budget. This is a great budgeting and problem-solving activity.
If your kids are little, you can still use this opportunity to teach them some life skills. When souvenir shopping, give them cash and allow them to figure out how much they can afford at the shop. They also love to help plan activities and fun, so give them buy-in in the activities you do as a family.
It Helps Them Appreciate the World
Traveling with kids can help them develop a sense of gratitude and appreciation for the world around them, as they experience different cultures and ways of life. When they break out of their usual community and friend group, they get the opportunity to see different cultures.
It’s easy to become insular people if we never leave our communities. Children who never leave their hometown tend to think the world is like their world. When we travel, we awaken our children’s minds as they experience new places and people with a new set of eyes.
You don’t have to travel to a new country to achieve this. Visiting a different part of your city or state also creates these opportunities. We live in Fort Worth, and one of our favorite places to visit is San Antonio. The culture is so vibrant and different from our hometown, yet it’s only a few hours away. You can even find touristy attractions in your hometown or surrounding cities.
Look for opportunities to show your kids new ways of life and cultures as you plan your travels. They will grow up to appreciate more of the world and become more compassionate and well-rounded in the process.
It Let’s Them Try New Hobbies and Interests
Traveling can also be a great way to introduce your kids to new hobbies and interests, such as hiking, skiing, or surfing, that they might not have had the chance to try otherwise. Exposing kids to new and even challenging activities at an early age gives them the chance to try and develop interests and skills they might not otherwise ever experience.
Vacations create space for fun activities. You never know what your family will fall in love with. You might have a budding fisherman, golfer, historian, or rock climber in your house. A family trip helps you unearth interests and hobbies you might not realize otherwise.
It Can Help Them Become More Independent and Confident
Traveling with kids can help them become more independent and confident, as they learn to navigate new environments and make decisions for themselves.
Allow your little kids to assert their independence by scanning their own boarding passes, wearing their backpacks, rolling their luggage, ordering for themselves at restaurants, or asking for items at the front desk of the hotel. Older kids and teens can practice independence by taking solo lessons during the trip or participating in other safe activities without you being right by their side.
When we visited Europe, I was amazed at the independence of the children there. We regularly saw kids navigating public transportation on their own or stopping in a bakery by themselves. I’m a hoverer and nurturer by nature, so being intentional about allowing my kids to exert their independence in age-appropriate and safe ways is important for my kids’ development into young adults.
It Creates a Sense of Adventure and Curiosity
Traveling as a family can be a great way to create a sense of adventure and curiosity in your kids, as they explore new places and try new things. I can attest to this personally. As a bookwormish kid, I would have told you that I don’t enjoy anything that would make me sweat or require physical exertion. But after travels that included skiing, hiking, canoeing, snorkeling, and walking miles and miles across cities, I can tell you that my view of what I thought I liked wasn’t accurate.
My sense of adventure and curiosity was awakened on those trips. Instead of being close-minded to new adventures, I’m now excited to try new adventures.
I’ve noticed the same struggle in my own kids. They don’t know what they don’t like if they’ve never had the opportunity to try it. While the news of a trip to a National Park might get a response of “that sounds boring,” once we get there, the adventure and beauty that awaits them overcomes their prior dispositions about it.
Authentic travel experiences awake a sense of adventure and curiosity in all of us. And for naturally curious children, it’s even more so. If we don’t travel, we are potentially missing out on uncovering passions and strengths.
Family Travel Tips: Making Traveling With Young Children Easier
- Consider bringing an extra caregiver: a travel babysitter or nanny (if it’s in your budget), travel with grandparents or other family members or friends
- Travel during sleeping time. Drive overnight or fly during naptime when your kiddos will be sleeping through most of the trip.
- Bring lots of snacks to avoid hAngry kids (and adults!)
- Don’t pack your itinerary too full. Leave room for rest
- Choose an accommodation with separate bedrooms, so you don’t have to go to bed at the same time as the kids
- Bring a comfortable stroller, so your child can nap on the go.
- Be prepared for a tantrum or two. Kids will be tired and dysregulated from travel, so don’t expect perfection.
- Bring something to entertain your kids during long periods of waiting. This is not the time for no screen time. Travel is the time to bring out the iPad or whatever you need to keep the kids calm and entertained during unexpected delays or during plane rides when you don’t want to disturb others.
- Bring a travel mom bag to keep everything on hand for on-the-go. Save your sanity by staying organized.
- If your child gets overwhelmed easily, bring some noise-canceling headphones. These are great for airplane travel or in loud environments.
Key Takeaways
Here’s a round-up of the 8 reasons to take your kids and why you shouldn’t give up on travel when you have young kids.
- It’s a First-Hand Learning Experience
- It Creates Lasting Memories and Strengthens Bonds
- It Helps Them Become More Adaptable
- It Provides an Opportunity to Teach Them Life-Skills
- It Helps Them Appreciate the World
- It Let’s Them Try New Hobbies and Interests
- It Can Help Them Become More Independent and Confident
- It Creates a Sense of Adventure and Curiosity
Wrapping Up: Why You Shouldn’t Give Up on Travel When You Have Young Kids
There will always be reasons we can find to stay home and skip out on family travel. While at times there are legitimate reasons travel is not an option, “the kids are too young” doesn’t have to be the reason.
Take your baby or toddler. They might surprise you with what a great traveler they are. If you have older kids, they’re great at helping, so give everyone special jobs during the trip to make your travels less stressful.
And even though we love family travel, plan some adult-only travel without kids, too! Just because you have kids doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a fun couple’s vacation or girls’ getaway.
And remember, you don’t have to start with a big trip. Ease into family travel with a day trip or a weekend getaway to get your feet wet. That 18-hour driving trip with a 3-month-old probably wasn’t our smartest move as new parents. But do I regret it? Not one bit. Just to start traveling with children is always a good idea, in my opinion.
