10 Life-Changing Benefits Your Family Will Find With Travel
Travel with family can sometimes be stressful, aggravating and completely overwhelming. So why should you do it? Why should you go to all of the effort to plan a trip and travel somewhere with your family? Why does it even matter?
I’m here to show you 10 Important Reasons as to Why Traveling with Your Family Does Matter? I want to show you how it can be a Life-Changing Experience, not only for your children, but for you as well!
Just Go Anywhere and Do Something, Together as a Family.
Whether it’s a couple hours down the road or half-way around the world, anyone can receive the amazing benefits of travel.
And the benefits are not gained only by going to a specific place or doing a specific activity. It is not about how much money you spend or about how long you are able to travel for. The incredible benefits of travel can be found anywhere you choose to go.
Here, I want to share with you 10 fantastic benefits that your family will find when you travel.
So, Let’s Discover Why Family Travel is So Important!
#1. Traveling as a Family Lets You Spend Important Quality Time Together
This first reason is kind of obvious, but I wanted to start with this benefit because it is so important.
Life in general can be pretty hectic. And when you have kids, it can get even crazier. It is so easy to get caught up in the daily routine of taking the kids to school, going to work, extracurricular activities & sports, doing laundry, shopping for groceries, and the so many other things that life throws at us everyday. (Let alone trying to find a moment for ourselves.) It’s exhausting!
Traveling, to me, allows a break in this hectic and monotonous pattern, whether it is for a day, a week or even more. It grants the rare opportunity to briefly step away from the craziness of life and truly spend some real quality time together.
As parents, we only have a few years with our children before they grow up. And taking the time to travel somewhere, and do something different, is a great way to really get to know each other as you experience these new things.
Now I know this sounds idealistic, because traveling itself can be stressful. But overall, it’s so worth it. Just remember, that your kids are not going to look back and remember those times when you got frustrated with them. (And yes, frustrating moments most likely will happen when you travel.) But for some reason, those memories tend to drift away not long afterwards.
Instead, you and your children will tend to remember all of those fun places you visited, the fantastic memories you made and the incredible things that you learned. You will find, that what tends to stand out, is these precious moments spent together as a family. And it is these moments that you and your family will treasure forever.
#2. Family Travel Lets You Discover Hidden Passions
Traveling provides an incredible opportunity for a family to discover hidden passions that they themselves may not have even known existed. And better yet, you can get the chance to learn your children and/or spouse’s passions too.
When traveling, just watch where your family’s eyes light up. Notice where their smiles grow. Discover what sparks their interests. And you will learn where your family experiences joy.
In day-to-day life, sometimes it can be hard to pay attention to what little things spark your kid’s interest with everything going on. And sometimes it is also hard for children to verbalize what they actually like or what they truly enjoy.
Yet, when you travel, everyday you are exposed to new things, and new adventures. This is the perfect opportunity to take notice of what new things your family may or may not like. And you can let them learn about what you like or don’t like too!
For example, through travel my eldest son learned that he is completely fascinated by airplanes, my middle son totally fell in love with glow-in-the-dark rocks and I, myself learned that I absolutely love the green-moss covered rocks that lie near small streams. This landscape is gorgeous! And before traveling, these were all things that we never knew we loved!
Learning, where each member of your family finds joy, also helps you get to know each other better. This in turn strengthens your connection together.
Now that you are armed with this new information, you will also be better able to plan future vacations that you know your family will enjoy. And on top of this, now you are better able to help their passions grow.
#3. Family Travel is an Incredible Teaching Opportunity
Traveling gives families a unique opportunity to teach your children practically anything and everything you want. Visit a local museum. Hike through a forest. Discover how things are made. Learn how different landforms were created. Meet different types of people. Find out more about history. Stroll down a city sidewalk. Appreciate different works of art. Or simply watch the rhythmic pattern of the waves at the beach. The possibilities are endless!
For us, our travel time is limited to those precious days off from school and work. Therefore, we have learned to maximize our vacation time so that we can learn, see and experience as much as possible together when we travel. We find that traveling is a great opportunity to fill in the gaps that the school system isn’t able to teach. It also allows us to show our children things that we feel are important to know and to learn about in our world.
Travel lets our family experience what books want to teach.
You can read about a cave. But to walk through one, feel its coolness and experience its complete darkness, lets you really know what one is. You can hear about what life was like in colonial times, but visiting a living history village will let you experience their world. You can learn everything about a big city, but that can never replace the feeling you’ll get when walking down its busy streets.
Travel lets your family understand the world in ways that you could never get from reading a book or watching a television show.
And traveling opens the door to learn about practically anything in the world.
#4. Traveling Introduces New Skills
When you travel with your family, anywhere, your children will learn new skills every day whether you realize it or not. Sometimes these skills may be obvious, like if they learn how to ride a horse, paddle a canoe or snorkel on your trip.
But they are also learning more subtle skills, like figuring out how to get through an airport, the process of checking into a hotel or how to order off a menu from a different unfamiliar restaurant each night. (Even simple things like learning how different shower faucets turn on, is a something that I had never thought could be confusing, until our family traveled.)
Watching and learning how to navigate through different situations in life will help your child gain greater self confidence in themselves and in return, future new situations tend to become less scary.
Learning Through Simple Tasks
Traveling is also a great opportunity to give children simple tasks and let them figure out how to solve problems when they are not necessarily in their comfort zone. For example, children can be in charge of finding the luggage cart when you check into a hotel. They can lead the way to find your hotel room (by reading the signs on the walls) or even figure out on their own where the ice machine in the hotel might be hiding. Simple tasks like this will teach your child to be more observant, more independent and more confident in life.
Learning to Navigate
Another great skill that you can help your child learn while traveling is how to navigate. Show your children, on a paper map (yes, they still do exist) or an electronic one, where you will be going that day. Let them see the distance. And better yet, have them follow your route throughout the day.
Ask them questions like, which way should we go next? This will build their confidence. And it will also help them know that they can figure out how to get from any Point A to Point B later in life.
Let children lead as your family walks down a trail. Have them guide you to your airport gate. Or let them help navigate while you are driving down the road. Involving children in the process of traveling will help them feel like they are more a part of your travel experience, and they will in turn end up enjoying their experience more because they are not just along for the ride. (And as an added bonus, it will also virtually eliminate the dreaded “Are we there yet?” question, because they will already know the answer.)
#5. Traveling Lets Families Take a Break From the Digital World
Let’s face it, we currently live in a digital world that is overrun with everyone staring at a screen. And putting that screen down may fill you with anxiety, but traveling gives an incredible opportunity to break away from the digital world, if only for a moment.
When traveling, many times you’ll have a set period of time that is packed with a ton of amazing activities. Go have fun together. Plan your days with exciting hikes, interesting museums or fun adventures. Do whatever it is that your family enjoys doing. Let your family experience the world around them without the constant bombardment of electronics while you travel.
If your children are not used to taking a break from electronics then this will probably be hard for your family at first. But if you focus on all of the awesome things that your family will see and do, and not the lack of electronics, then the transition will be easier.
And it’s important that your children don’t feel like it’s a punishment that their electronics are taken away for periods of time when you travel, because it’s not. It’s actually a gift, the gift of opening their eyes to the incredible world around them. Help them feel like their electronics are unnecessary. Encourage them to feel that they will be having so much fun that they won’t even miss them.
Give It a Try
I know this strategy won’t work for everyone, but the benefits of taking a break from our digital world are worth giving it a try. Most families find that their children start behaving better and that their overall vacation experience as a family increases.
But if the thought of going “cold turkey” and leaving the electronics at home gives you a panic attack, then start small and try to find a balance. Try it for a set amount of time each day. Maybe allow electronics only in the hotel room at night or save it just for a long car ride. Find something that works for your family.
It’s so important to help children be present while you are out seeing things or doing activities on your trip. (And honestly they will thank you later.) Encourage them to realize that traveling is their opportunity to experience new things in the world and to be together as a family.
This one act of setting aside electronics, even if only for a little, can have huge positive effects on your family and your quality of time together.
#6. Traveling Let's People Discover How Little They Need
This is one part of traveling that never ceases to amaze me. How is it, that when I am at home I feel like there are a million things that I need in my life. And yet when I travel, I am able to live out of what can be packed into a suitcase or two and be completely happy.
This is one benefit of travel that I really love. When I live out of a suitcase, I am reminded that I really don’t need more stuff in my life. I am also reminded that more stuff is not what brings me the greatest happiness. Living out of a suitcase for weeks on end, lets me discover how little I actually need.
This benefit is also wonderful for children. When traveling, children will learn to play with just the couple of toys, that you brought with you. They will learn that they can be happy with just one or two small stuffed animals to sleep with at night.
Through traveling, children will begin to learn the difference between needs and wants. They will begin to realize that they can be happy without all of their stuff. And they too will begin to learn about what really makes them happy in life.
#7. Traveling Helps Families Learn to Work Together
Day after Day, or week after week when traveling, you are with the same people, in close quarters. Some people can’t imagine wanting to do this, but I look at it from a different perspective. I see traveling as an incredible opportunity to teach your children how to work together and get along with others. And who better to learn how to get along with than your family!
When our family travels, we try to emphasize to our children that we need to work together, and that they have an important role in helping make our vacation run smoothly. One method that has worked best for us, is to have each person in charge of specific jobs, all while working together.
Delegate Jobs to Your Kids to Work Together for a Common Goal
For example, when we check into a hotel, we will put one child in charge of getting the luggage cart, one child in charge of taking the trash out of the car and finding a trash can, and one child in charge of collecting the water bottles from our car, so that they can be refilled for the next day. This is all done while I check into the hotel and my husband is getting the luggage out of the car.
By everyone having a specific task, including our children, everyone is working together towards a common goal. And the result is, that we are able to check into our hotel room quickly and smoothly.
Learning to Compromise
Working together is also about learning how to compromise. And traveling gives plenty of opportunity for needing to compromise.
For example, it can be as simple as compromising on what song should be played next while you drive in the car. Or it can be more difficult, like teaching your child to be respectful (and not acting bored) at an activity that one member of your travel party enjoys, but they do not.
But most importantly traveling gives your family the opportunity to learn how to get along with each other and learn how NOT to annoy each other. This part of traveling will try many a parent’s patience.
Tips for Helping Kids Get Along While Traveling
So I’m going to let you in on what works the best for us. We tell our children that they have the power to make this a good vacation or a bad vacation. And before we travel, we have them give us examples of what would make our vacation good or bad.
Then when we are traveling and are having a moment, we ask them again if their current behavior is making this a good vacation or a bad vacation. Then we ask them what they could do instead to make this a good vacation. Once they have answered, we then ask them to do what they suggested to help us make this a good vacation. Sounds simple right? But it works!
The skill of being able to work with others, know how to compromise and how to help each other in an effort to reach an overall goal are essential skills in life. And traveling with your family gives you many great opportunities to learn and practice these important life skills.
#8. Traveling Gives Families a Wonderful Opportunity to Discover Something New
Traveling allows your family to explore and learn about a variety of topics. Topics that you may have never even thought to learn about before.
Though travel, you will find museums dedicated to unique obsessions (like the incredible Winchester Mystery House) or entire tours all about bizarre topics that you may never knew existed (like the Beneath the Streets Tour in Seattle.)
So, check some of them out! You may like it, you may not, but either way you’ve learned something. And either way you’ve learned more about the world.
Traveling like this lets you learn about so many different subjects. And it’s incredible to watch your children discover entire fields that they never knew about, a type of job that looks amazing, or discovering a problem in the world that they want to help solve. (For example, at the Monterey Aquarium in California, my youngest became fascinated with their underwater submersibles and the research that they were conducting in the ocean.)
Traveling opens children’s eyes to so many possibilities. And family travel may just spark an interest in your child, or yourself, that changes where life takes you next.
#9. Traveling Helps Families Learn About the World and Can Change Your Perspective
Learning About Different People/ Cultures
Are you curious to learn about different cultures, or about how other people live (or lived?) Traveling with your family gives you an excellent opportunity to learn all about other people and cultures. This could be learning from a farmer down the road, talking to people that live in a nearby city or learning about different cultures all around the world. In each case your family can learn about different ways of life, but also how they are the same.
With travel you’ll see how people live in different types of homes, do different types of jobs and may live completely different from your family. But at the same time, you will also notice how they will smile, laugh and all want the best for their family, just like you.
Learning About the Environment
As your family travels, you will also begin to see how much beauty there is in the world and how many different amazing environments are out there. But travel will also teach you and your family about what happens when these places are not protected and how easily they can be lost forever.
Through travel your family’s view of the world will probably begin to change. All of the sudden, many of your personal problems in life may begin to look smaller. And the more you travel, the more you may find yourself thinking about the greater good for the world and not just for yourself.
As you meet more people from different backgrounds, you’ll likely find yourself becoming more understanding and accepting of others. And as you travel to more destinations in nature, you’ll likely find yourself gaining an even greater respect for our Earth and for the need to protect it.
This benefit of travel with your family can be life changing. It can change your family’s entire thought process. And it will help shape who your children will become, how they view the world and how they choose to live their life going forward.
#10. Family Travel Creates Special Everlasting Memories
Lastly, Families Can Truly Benefit from Travel because traveling provides an array of opportunities to create unforgettable family memories together, memories that you’ll talk about for years to come.
Some of these memories will make you laugh, (like when I saw a mountain goat ready to jump off a cliff onto the road in front of us in Zion National Park, and all I could say was “Go, Go, Go.” For some reason I forgot the “T” in Goat and Chris was thoroughly confused as to why I wanted him to drive faster at that moment. I don’t think they will ever let me live that down.)
And some stories may let you reminisce about an unfortunate event, that hopefully you can later laugh about. (Like how Chris accidently fell on top of a cactus in Arizona while we were hiking on a trail. Ouch!! Needles were sticking out of him everywhere! And yeah, we’ve “poked” a little fun at his unfortunate experience ever since.)
Yet, each memory, good or not so good, will end up bringing your family closer together. It is because these memories are your family’s stories. They are personal, they are special and they will always connect your family together, forever.
Traveling together as a family gives so many of these special stories, moments and memories that will last a lifetime. And in turn, a precious connection with your children, through your travel experiences, will be created.
Yet, family travel also gives your children those special memories of you! Memories that they too can carry with them for the rest of their own life, and memories that they will be able to treasure forever.
Traveling, With Your Family, Truly is the Greatest Gift!
Now You’re All Set to Start Receiving the Amazing Benefits of Family Travel.
So Let’s Find Your Traveling Feet!
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