Traveling with kids

We have been traveling with our kids since they were babies but we really started traveling with them once they were out of diapers and could carry their own backpacks! (woot woot!)

Our first really big trip with the girls was to the North Island of New Zealand in 2010. After that long flight, we decided we could travel with them anywhere!

We’ve gone on so many wonderful adventures together, as a family. It has really been amazing and we feel so lucky!

It’s never to early to take your kids with you on big trips! If you can find a way to swing it, just do it!

The earlier they experience long flights, time changes, hotel rooms, trains, boats, taxis, big cities, small towns, different foods, cultures and religions, the better! The easier it gets for them and for you and for your entire family.

As long as you try to maintain some kind of  routine, keep them full,  bring a favorite toy and stuffed animal, they will be OK.

The occasional bribery of ice cream helps as does a fun new activity for a long plane ride. Our girls used to love the Usborne Sticker Dolly Dressing  books and as they got older they loved Thinking Putty !

International travel helps you become a citizen of the world. You learn to look beyond your house, your circle of friends, your school, your job, your neighborhood and your community. You grow, you learn and you change. This can happen if you are an adult or a kid!

Home and community are very important, but the world is so much bigger than that.

You can see first hand, the effects of war, traffic, pollution, poverty and the struggle for basic things that we take for granted like shelter and clean water. You can never get the same education from seeing these things on TV.

And you realize that there are so many things that we all have in common!

In my opinion, this early exposure helps you become more tolerant and open minded to different religions, political views and cultures and that is something that benefits us all. Peace!