7 Reasons to Travel with Kids

The question I get more than anything about traveling with little kids is “How do you do it?” My hope is that many many posts in the future will give insight on the how. But, what I actually think many people might mean or really want to ask is:

 

why.

 

why do you travel with your kids?

 

It’s pretty routine at this point. I’m chit-chatting with an acquaintance, perhaps a new co-worker who I’ve only known a few months, she throws out a friendly “what’s new?”

High off a recent adventure I light up and say “not much! Just got back from vacation.”

Coworker: “Awesome! Where’d you go?”

Me: “{insert destination}. It was amazing!”

Coworker: “Super cool.” [small pause] “Who watches your kids when you travel?”

Me: “Oh, we took them with us!”

Coworker: [blank stare with mouth open] “all of them?”

Me: “Yep”

CoWorker: “How old are they?”

Me: “8,6 and 3”

CoWorker: [pausing] “I don’t know how you do that”

 

I’m sure that’s partly true, that she doesn’t know how we do it. And I get it. There are certainly hurdles when traveling with littles. But I think another part of her wanted to say “why do you do that? That just sounds hard and not worth it and scary. And I don’t think my kids could do that.”

 

Let me start with a disclaimer. This is just my opinion and what works for us. There are loads of reasons to leave the littles at home when you travel. Clearly it’s much cheaper to pay for 2 people to travel than 5. And I acknowledge that adults need kid-free time.

 

But here is our philosophy.

 

The moment I became a mother of my snuggly little E I realized that the rest of my life had begun. I felt like my perfectly happy, content, successful life as I knew it pre-baby was a story in black and white. My new life with this sweet bundle was now in vibrant color. Adding B to the mix and I felt a similar shift. It was like I had lived in a 2 dimensional world & now everything had sides and edges and depth. Along came A and my life movie went from silent to a talkie. So, when we realized that in order to maintain sanity in small town Ohio we would have to travel there was no way we would leave our littles behind. Our children are what make our lives colorful, textured and loud 🙂 And it was obvious that without them our travel experience would be less vibrant.

 

So here are our top reasons to WHY to travel with children:

 

1. because travel is an amazing experience only made better surrounded by the people who you love. Seeing the Grand Canyon is moving. Seeing it next to your little love knowing that she is just starting her own life journey to understand how something could be so vast & beautiful is just better. Sure, she might not remember it much (or at all) but I will. I will have these memories for the rest of my life. I will cherish the time I looked down and wondered how the world could be so big and great and beautiful while holding her sweet little hand in mine.

 

2. because children make you move slow. no one will be shocked to learn that babies and toddlers and kids don’t do well with break-neck speeds and marathon tours. When you travel with kids you have to set a different pace. And guess what? It’s awesome. Instead of killing yourself to see every bleepin thing you actually sink into your surrondings and enjoy them.

 

3. because kids force you to be a local. My hope every time I travel is that I can balance seeing amazing sites with understanding what life is like at this new spot. Kids are very helpful achieving the second part of that. Let’s face it, you wouldn’t be finding a corner store for milk in Asia if you were traveling alone. You wouldn’t be nursing a babe on a bench next to the Seine if he wasn’t along for the ride. Those experiences are some of the best when traveling.

 

4. because it makes your kids better humans. Without diving too deep here, is it just me or do we need more good humans in this world? And how do I define a good human? Well, I think being kind and accepting of others is a pretty good start. Traveling at a young age allows kids to see that the world is diverse and different and awesome. They learn that it doesn’t revolve around them. They learn that not everyone is white, Christian, middle class, English speaking, etc.

 

5. because your kids learn so much (and so do you). Kids are sponges. We all say it & it’s true. Kids learn so much when they travel to a new land and it’s motivating to teach them. If I travel to Rome alone I will probably show up and maybe take a tour of the Colloseum and wander the ruins. With kids I realize they are looking at me and saying “what is this place?” Well, time to explain it. And then realize I don’t really remember or never really knew.  So, time to learn it all together.

 

6. because when they’re traveling with you, you don’t have to miss them. Friends, I’ve tried to go away without my kids. Twice. Hubby and I have done 2 weekends away and left the kids at home. Holy moly. The guilt, worry, sadness is for the birds and not worth it. Clearly something is wrong with me but I just didn’t enjoy myself.

 

7. because you don’t have to find someone to watch them. My parents and in-laws are both awesome but asking someone to watch 3 kids for a week or more is a pretty tall order. Not everyone has those unicorn babysitters to move in and take over parent role without missing a practice, assignment drop off, etc

I would love to hear your thoughts on the pros and cons of traveling with littles!