As I have already mentioned in my most of the posts that I generally travel with my family. When my daughter was 7 months old, we started travelling with her. I know there are many parents who will say that there are many difficulties to face when you are travelling with young kids. I agree too but today in this post I will share how travelling is actually beneficial for kids. So if you read this post you will know that your extra effort to include them in your travel actually worth!
Benefits of travelling with Kids:
Their Brain develops more:
When we are at our home, most of the kids have their routine, it may varies as they grow up but every kids follow a routine at home as per their culture, their age. However when we travel we are not following the routine, and so our kids! It actually helps to improve the brain functioning as you are trying new things or experiencing new things which are beyond expectations or routine work of Brain.
They will learn to adjust and come out of their comfort zone:
Travelling teaches us to adjust and so it does to our kids. In our daily life we have a habit to take food at a fixed time, some food we like some we declare don’t like. It happened for kids even more. When we are travelling we try new foods, perhaps sometime timing also does not match with our daily time. So kids learn to adjust, they learn to take new food, develops new taste.
Not only for food but for every other habits also they are not following their routine and this is how they learn to adjust. I think it is very useful learning for the initial years of life of your children.
They come to know new Culture, meet new people
Knowing different culture is another benefit of travelling. It may not be applicable for your babies or toddlers but at a later stage it definitely helps to young children to know different culture of people we interact while travelling. Some kids who don’t interact with outside people much at an early stage of life, become introvert. The kids who travel with their parents are mostly become extrovert, and mostly they become good at public speaking, expressing themselves better in front of teachers and other kids
It enhances the creativity of your child:
Science proves that new place with unknown experience can boost our creativity. Creativity is actually directly related to neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout its life), which means our brains are sensitive to adjustment, influenced by new atmospheres and experiences. By changing our environment we can literally form new neuronal pathways enhancing our creativity. When you are witnessing new art & crafts in any new historical place, your kids will be able to relate it better when they will read it in their studies.
It increases the happiness of Kids:
This point seems obvious!! Travelling makes all of us happy. My daughter becomes super excited whenever we travel. As travelling reduce our anxiety level, stress level it does the same for our kids. Kids also become bore with their normal routine life and whenever we travel with them they also get excited. All those new experience, create wonders in their mind!
While you are travelling with your kids, some key things to consider:
1.Plan your trip according to you and your child’s capability:
Remember you know best how much you can do with your child and what is the essential routine your kid must follow. Plan your trip accordingly. When my daughter was baby, I used to plan less for a day. As slow traveller we had to sometime sit in a place for her food or to change her diaper. When she was toddler, we had to skip some of the good trekking options in Coorg, Kashmir which we could have done otherwise. Here is what happened in Paro Bhutan when we tried trekking to Taktsang monastery along with her.
2.Don’t force your child to try something for which he/she is not ready :
As an adult we may be excited about some activities like Paragliding or scuba diving etc. but our kids may not be interested or may not want to try even if they are eligible to try it, my opinion is don’t force it to them. If possible try yourself without them and explain how exciting it was so that they may get the wish to try it.
3. Take precaution for the food,water
Though you are taking local food take good precaution about the hygiene about the food as their digestive system is not as strong as yours. If they gets any health issue while travelling, it will definitely be a problem for you. Also carry essential medicine for the child with you as you may not get those medicine in that location of required.
I hope you enjoyed reading the post. Please let me know if you think there are other benefits as well on How travelling is beneficial for Kids
Read More:
Things to know before you visit Muktinath, Nepal
How to prepare yourself for a solo trip
How to handle unwanted situations in your solo trip
10 Important things to know about traveling in India
Awesome post! Keep up the great work! 🙂
As a teacher, I definitely agree with you that travel is beneficial to children. I think it’s wonderful for children to be introduced to new cultures at a young age. In general I think this could help great a world that is more understanding of each other, when kids grow up having respect for people who are different than they are.