There’s a lot of the world to explore! Whether you want an exotic experience and you get your Sri Lanka visa online or you’ve always dreamed of exploring English castles, an entire lifetime is not enough time to explore every corner of the globe.
Unfortunately, many people put off going on global adventures because they’re raising a family. Although traveling internationally with children can be a challenge, it’s one that’s well worth the benefits your kids will gain by traveling the world by your side.
Experience with Another Culture
One of the biggest benefits of traveling abroad is experiencing other cultures. It can be life-changing for adults, but it is especially beneficial to children.
Empathy is not something very young children are capable of, but empathy is something that can be cultivated as they grow. It can be difficult for children to build empathy for people they’ve never met living in far-flung places, but that’s remedied as soon as you travel there.
Not only does traveling help build empathy for the people and cultures they experience, but it can also be applied more broadly. By having experienced a culture very different from their own at least once, it isn’t so difficult to build empathy for other cultures too, even if they haven’t interacted with its people directly.
It Is Extremely Educational
There are a lot of life lessons we can all learn when traveling the world. Kids can benefit from many of those lessons too. Just a few include learning:
- How to eat different foods.
- How to say words in a different language.
- How to figure out the local transportation.
- What to do if you get lost.
Of course, their teachers back home will love that you took your children on an international vacation. Learning history in a class is definitely not the same as learning about it first-hand. It’s a lot more memorable to learn about the French Revolution in France or the Holocaust in Poland than it is to read it in a book or watch a documentary.
It Boosts Confidence
Confidence is important in life, and it’s something kids should learn early. Unfortunately, many children are sheltered, pathways are cleared for them, and they grow up never knowing what it means to rely on their own abilities.
International travel can change that.
Life on vacation in another country is a lot different than the structured life they experience back home. By trying things they've never tried before, they can discover they can do it after all, and they can cultivate surprising passions when they return back home.
Watching mom and dad navigate another country can be a huge benefit as well. As they see you figure out challenging situations, they will learn they can too, especially if you include them in the process.
Spending Extended Quality Time with Family
Families are always looking for ways to spend quality time together. With our busy schedules at home, time together usually means an hour at dinner or a few hours spent doing something as a family on Saturday. That’s better than nothing, but it pales in comparison to the time you’ll spend together on an international vacation.
International vacations require spending a lot of time on airplanes and other transportation, so they are longer than your weekend getaway. You don’t have to go to work, and you don’t have to send the kids to school. You literally spend every waking moment together for days, or even weeks, on end, which can completely transform the dynamics of your family for the better.
Memories That Will Last a Lifetime
Spending money on experiences is almost always better than spending money on things. The memories that your children create on an international vacation with you are memories that will literally last a lifetime.
You don’t have to try hard to craft those memories either like you might have to do by planning special activities nearer to home. Instead, you can literally walk outside your hotel door and the atmosphere is so different that you can’t not make long-lasting memories, no matter what your age!
If you love to travel, and you’re getting the itch to go somewhere new, don’t let young children stop you from planning the international vacation you really want. Although it may require a lot of planning, and there is likely to be some stress on the airplane to get there, your children will get just as much, if not more, out of your international vacation than the adults.
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