Spark Your Family’s Love of Travel
Planning a vacation is A LOT of work! Even if you have a travel agent doing the planning and booking for you, there are still many decisions and arrangements that need to be made. Choosing the right places and activities, all while trying to maintain your normal routines, especially if you have kids, can be a real challenge.
In the hectic pace of daily life, it can be easy to forget the bigger reasons why we choose to travel in the first place. Travel enriches our lives, expands our emotional and cultural horizons and helps us become better global citizens.
If you have a trip coming up and you have kids, this can be a great opportunity to encourage them to be involved in the planning and to participate in family activities. That just sounds like you’re just adding on to your already full plate as a parent though, right? It doesn’t have to be - I’ve got you!
Here are some simple ideas to spark the love of travel in your child on your next vacation:
Play to Their Strengths
Does your kid love painting? Music? Dance? Sports? Animals? Have your child research ahead of time about activities or places that might speak to their existing passions. Maybe the place you’re headed has an incredible soccer culture or was the home of a famous photographer. Maybe it’s known for a certain kind of food or has some quirky museum. Look for plays, festivals, sporting events and exhibits they might like, then have them gather as much info as they can and dig deeper into that interest.
Use a Travel Journal
If your child likes to write or draw, this can be both a wonderful way to document experiences and a way for kids to have alone time if they need it. This can be a wonderful way to wind-down in the evening before bed. Set aside even just 10 minutes for them to write down or doodle something from the day.
A journal can be used before leaving, too! It can be a place where they document questions they have about where you’re going, things they want to learn, a place to glue in pictures of places they want to see and things they’re excited to try. Think of it as a mini scrapbook!
Create a Scavenger Hunt
Put on your thinking caps on and come up with some fun adventures you can have together on your trip.
How many kinds of gelato can you try?
How many colors of cowboy boots can you spot?
Can you track down all the famous buildings built by a favorite architect?
Make a list of landmarks that were important to a local band?
This can be adjusted depending on the age of your children and is an especially effective way to engage older kids. It keeps them tuned in to their surroundings and there can be a reward when a list is completed to use as motivation. A fun souvenir or dinner of their choice are great options!
Get Creative With Photography
Photographs can be an excellent way to help ignite curiosity and become present to the travel experience. For younger children especially, an inexpensive disposable camera works great and can make them feel very grown up. Older children might have access to a simple digital camera or a phone with a built-in camera. Encourage them to simply photograph whatever strikes their interest. It’s incredible to see your travels through their eyes.
You can also make a list ahead of time for unique things to keep an eye out for while on vacation. These can be interesting flowers, distinctive doorways, motorcycles or scooters they like, desserts, street signs, gardens, markets, sunsets. This can be a wonderful way for a child to discover a new interest he didn’t even know he had.
Photography opens the door to many incredible, creative opportunities, but make sure to always be aware and respect cultural etiquette around taking photographs while traveling.
Capture new sounds
If your child is more of an aural learner than a visual one, you can use a small digital voice recorder to capture the exclusive traits of your destination. This can include car horns, street music, sounds of natural surroundings, food cooking, traditional ceremonies, language and laughter. These sounds paint an auditory picture of your vacation that will spark wonderful memories for years to come. You can even use the audio as a background to slideshows or videos you might create from your photos.
Spark Conversations
Use the power of compare and contrast to sharpen curiosity, create awareness, and start good conversations. The ability to compare and contrast allows us to sharpen our curiosity and create awareness of our surroundings. While traveling, have as a goal each day that your family can do to note one thing that’s similar to what you do at home and one thing that’s different from what you do at home. Here are some ideas:
Do they play similar games?
Eat different foods?
Drive the same cars?
Wear the same kinds of clothes?
Listen to different music?
Have the same kinds of pets?
In addition to observing similarities and differences, talk to your children about their thoughts around what they’re noticing. What questions come up and what feels totally unfamiliar? Do they see things that they wish kids did more of back home?
This can be a powerful tool for kids to be present to what’s happening around them and can also help them process the culture shock that can accompany the newness of various environments. It can be a way for you to get to know them better and it can be a way for them to understand more about themselves, too.
An added bonus is that these ideas require hardly any additional management or planning on the part of a parent. Woohoo! As with any other trip, each family will have to establish ground rules and be aware of the cultural expectations of the places they’re visiting, but not much other planning is involved because these activities are largely child-driven and executed.
Yes, you’ll likely have to help your kid plan or reserve tickets for a chosen activity or event, but that’s something you would be doing for that day, anyway. The difference here is that your child will be a part of the process. Yes, you’ll likely be stopping a little more as your child notices, points out, and talks about everything they’re taking in, but these are wonderful opportunities for connection with your child and a chance for parents to slow down and absorb a little more in the process.
Traveling with your children provides a one-of-a-kind educational experience for them and a powerful bonding experience for the whole family. Let’s plan your family’s next great adventure!
Happy Travels!
