Japan

The Best Way to Travel is with Kids

Need reasons to travel with kids? I’ll give you five and make you see why travel with kids is the best way to travel. But, first you must forget the images of cranky, tantrum throwing kids on a plane, tots running around and touching things at the museums. Travel is a great way to teach your kids to know better. If you love to travel, then kids can’t be an excuse since it’s all about spending time with your kids, teaching them, enjoying their company and raising them to be responsible people. It’s worth giving it a try.

do you love to travel?

If you are passionate about travel, then kids can’t be an excuse not to travel.

Of course it is easier doing it alone.

I’ve realized it all over again as hubbs and I spent a whole week exploring Iceland alone. But I also often wished our girls came along, it would’ve been more fun. We’ll never know. What I do know are five reasons why you should make family travel a rule:

things end

1) It’s fun.

No one can make being stuck in a car, on a three lane, during rush hour more exciting than a kid who at that exact moment has to pee. And you care about nothing else but somehow making it work, making it happen.

But there’s more, like visiting a castle and having to come up with all the impossible answers to where are all the princesses or dragons? You get to build fortresses in the sand, have ice cream after long walks…

None of it would happen without the kids.

And the best perk? Nobody really makes you wait for anything when you travel with young kids. We were so rarely stuck in queques as everyone was kind enough to just let us pass through and if that is not fun I don’t know what is.

Japan

2) It’s about taking the time to do it.

Children make us take it easy. We are suddenly no longer rushing to squeeze in all the sights the guide mentions.

As a parent with two kids I have learned to pace ourselves. We pick and chose, because we know we can’t do it all. What we do manage to experience is then much more insightful and true.

We do it almost as the locals with kids: eat a snack at a park, try all the playgrounds in the vicinity, hit the zoo instead of the galleries, walk around the center instead of a museum, go to sleep instead of a party…

3) It’s seeing things differently.

I have so outgrown my youthful creative imagination where in every ruin I could see what it once was.

With the help of my daughters I can again appreciate all the beauty around me.

Castles are no longer ancient buildings or museums full of useless stuff, they are now places where stories come alive.

singapore
4) It’s about spending quality time together.

The two of us don’t get so many vacation days that we’d have enough for just the two of us, for just me, for them… While we do spend every moment of our free time with the kids, it’s always too little, too scheduled and just pretty much routine.

Going away from home, from the daily grind and stuff that grounds us, we are all more relaxed, more fun and excited to be together.

We let the routine be a little loose and us a bit more creative.

Flowers
5) It’s about raising smart kids.

You can’t travel and hate everything. It just doesn’t work like that.

Travel makes us open minded and perceptive, it makes us appreciate differences and realize there really are no boundaries.

Kids show you that language is not an obstacle and no matter where we are they find ways to play with the local kids.

By showing our kids the world, we are teaching them without them being stuck in a classroom and forced. They are learning more, because it’s from their own experience. And they are following our example, so it’s up to us. To show them how to respect other people and items, how to be polite and curious, how our trip is a reward in itself not something to be taken for granted.

Finally, we can all then hope that the time we have spent together will be something they will cherish for life. Just the way I still remember all the beautiful trips I took with my parents.