Going on trips with our son – either on a staycation, a day trip, a weekend getaway, a short out-of-town trip, a long travel or an adventure trip – is a no brainer question for me and my husband. We believe travel is a magical tool that helps providing a solid ground in our own home and provides an enormous learning opportunity in a myriad of ways. Thus, we make sure that wherever we go we turn every trip into an organic lesson in history, culture, gratitude, etc.
Here are 6 reasons why we believe traveling with our son works wonders and beats learning in any classroom:
1.Traveling with our son strengthens our family as we share a range of experiences together. It makes our son feel that he is important to us. It is a wonderful opportunity for us as a family to collect memories, not things. And it provides us with one of the best ways to take a break from the hustle and bustle of life. Indeed, traveling together makes every crazy, exhausting trip totally worth it.
2.Traveling promotes excellent personal growth to our son and broadens his mind through complete immersion. It is inevitably a huge eye-opening experience for him that helps widens his understanding of the way things are. It introduces him to new things that stoke up his sense of curiosity and wonder to learn. It teaches him the value of learning how to get along with various kinds of people. It teaches him to be adaptable to new situations. It encourages him to express himself more. It teaches him to be patient – to wait out a little bit more until he is/we are allowed to explore and just enjoy the sights. Through traveling, he has practiced tolerance, met different challenges and became more flexible. Travel empowers him to be self-reliant and makes him more social as he gets to meet and interact with people in all walks of life from all age groups – people who can enrich his life even further. And most importantly, it allows him to develop skills on decision making, problem solving and trip planning which he can use in the future.
3. Traveling provides a break from the digital world not only for our son but for us too. Our favorite is when we explore off-the-beaten-path places for a couple of days where there is no internet connection. This way, we talk more, our son gets to have more time with us and we have all our attention to him.
4. Traveling teaches him the ways of the world. We noticed that our son becomes more excited when we start him getting involved – even at the planning stage. Where is our next destination on the map? Who designed that amazing building? Why it was built? How do we get there? What activities we can do? Husband and I read information and show some pictures of the places we will visit before we get there. Learning easily becomes a part of the traveling lifestyle. Plus, it teaches him to experience the world for himself.
5. Traveling brings our son closer to nature. He gets to see different plants and animals much closer and even get to touch them. Indeed, traveling is a great way to introduce him to Mother Nature’s beautiful creations and masterpieces.
6. Traveling boosts our son’s school grades. Through travels, real-life learning experiences adds tangibility to what he is reading, creates a richer context about what he is learning in school, widens his vocabulary and eventually boosts those school grades.
Life on the road is certainly very different and that is part of its charm. Traveling triggers all our senses, and the benefits are absolutely endless – promotes outstanding personal growth, tightened family bonds, cultural awareness, culinary diversity, discovery of nature, indulging in breathtaking landscapes, experiencing new adventures, and it forces us to break away from those daily routines. Since we know that these influences are extremely important, my husband and I settled for spending less money for toys and invest more in traveling and discovering every nooks and crannies around the world with our son.
Little Lilly Meets the World 