5 reasons for doing long term travel with children

Have you always wanted to travel, but now that you have kids, you think you can’t get on the road with them? Or do you maybe think traveling with kids is wasting time and money, because they won’t remember it anyways?

Well, we believe there’s no good excuse for not packing your bags and taking your children on a trip! There are many good reasons to convince you there’s no time like now to go traveling with your offspring. Traveling is one of the best experiences you can enable your children. They will be forever grateful for the opportunity to embrace the world they would never encounter from the comfort of your living room.

Like anything worth doing, it’s not all sunshine and roses, but we believe the following 5 reasons are well worth the effort!

Experiencing different cultures

The numerous cultural differences that your children will encounter while traveling through various countries will vastly broaden their horizon. First hand experiencing of different traditions in other countries is a priceless experience. They will realize that there’s more than just one way to doing things. If that won’t help them to think outside the box and enable better chances of getting things done in the future, then what will?

Learning about history and religious traditions

Regardless of whether you raise your kids in a certain religion or not, teaching them that there are other religions out there, is of great importance. Respecting other people and their traditions is an important value to teach your children. If your kids get a chance to visit a church, experience prayers at a Shinto temple or wake up to the call to prayer from a mosque, they will get a chance to see the beauty in other religious traditions than just their own.  

All of this is really hard if you only stay in one place. You might be studying about religion and world history, but it’s all very abstract if you never leave your home town. Getting to know different cultures and having the chance to experience them yourself is something everyone should have a chance to do.

Languages

Learning a new language is never a bad idea. And notoriously kids are pretty good at picking them up fast. When traveling, they’re exposed to new languages, which makes them more prone to learning them. But even if they don’t learn to speak a language, being surrounded by different phonemes and languages will enable them to learn a new language faster later on in life. And having to communicate with people without speaking the same language will make them more resourceful when it comes to communication.  

Food

Think of all the delicacies your children will have tried by the end of every trip. If you never leave your home, your kids are probably stuck with the same kind of food. Even if you live in a city with a lively food scene, there’s nothing like having a ramen in Sapporo, sauerkraut in Munich or even a durian pancake in Singapore. Your kids (and you) probably won’t finish the latter, but having the chance to try that is precious enough, right?

Unforgettable memories

The memories you will create with your children while exploring the world will become something you and your children will cherish forever. Once they grow up and you will be going through the jumping photos in front of landmarks from different places, you will remember the unforgettable memories of your family discovering the world together. Imagine all the anecdotes you will be able to laugh about!