• Home
  • Our Shop
  • About Us
    • About MKB
    • Our Shop
    • MKB Board
    • Editorial Board and MKB Administrators
    • Our Contributors
    • For Bloggers: Join MKB
    • Books and Products from Our Members
    • Cultural Resources
    • Contact Us
  • Product Promotion Services
  • Blog Hops & Series
    • Holidays Around the World
      • Martin Luther King Day
      • Chinese New Year
      • Purim
      • Passover
      • Easter Around the World
      • Ramadan
      • Hajj (Eid al Adha)
      • Rosh Hashanah
      • Day of the Dead
      • Diwali
      • Hanukkah
      • Christmas in Different Lands
    • Heritage Months
      • Black History Month
      • Women’s History Month
      • Asian-Pacific Islander Heritage Month
      • Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month
      • Hispanic Heritage Month
      • Native American Heritage Month
    • Blogging Carnivals
    • Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop
    • Global Learning for Kids
  • Resources for Raising Global Citizens
  • Privacy Policy

Multicultural Kid Blogs

For families and educators raising world citizens, through arts, activities, crafts, food, language, and love.

Why We LOVE Traveling with Young Children (and How to Survive!)

May 26, 2017 by Jennifer

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Call me crazy, but I love traveling with my kids! Yes, jet lag is a pain with toddlers and the midair-meltdown-potential is pretty high. I’ve heard the objections (“but they won’t remember the trip!”) and navigated airport tantrums. However, my husband and I have found that the benefits for our children’s growth and learning far outweigh the challenges. Since life with toddlers and preschoolers at home is no walk in the park, why not go on an adventure instead?

We’ve traveled to five countries and many U.S. states with our now 4-year-old daughter since she was an infant. Next month, we will add our 1-year-old son to the mix. We’ll travel the 23 hours to Taiwan to celebrate a family wedding and see friends from the nine months that we lived there.

With the right perspective and preparation, we’ve found international family travel pays dividends in our children’s development and connection as a family. Keep reading for our reasons why we travel and survival tips for those loooong long-haul flights.

The 3 C’s of Why We Travel

There are as many reasons to travel as there are people — and they change with different seasons. As a mother of young children, my “why” is different than when I was a teenager living in Europe. We prioritize travel for our children to: 1) encourage their unique cultural identity, 2) foster curiosity and 3) increase our family’s connection to each other and the world.

Cultural Identity:

There really is no better substitute for deepening a child’s cultural identity than living or visiting the country of their heritage. My husband and I spend a lot of time trying to be intentional about raising our multicultural children. We want them to know and embrace their unique cultural heritage. Traveling to a country of their heritage not only exposes children to the outward parts of culture (i.e. language, foods, clothing) but also to the less visible parts like values, humor and beliefs. We lived in Taiwan when my daughter was 18 months old. I credit this to her strong connection to her Chinese heritage. Now at age four, she will often introduce herself by her name and “did you know I’m Chinese, too! I’m from Taiwan!” This is invaluable to us.

Curiosity:

Curiosity is a foundation to a lifelong love of learning. Traveling with young children provides tons of opportunities to foster that curiosity! They get to experience new smells, sights, sounds, and foods. Kids are naturally aware of the world around them, and when that world looks different, they notice. When my daughter was two years old, she was commenting about the differences between Thailand, where we visited, and Taiwan where we lived. For us parents, it’s such a joy to see the world again through our children’s eyes.

Connection:

Even though my daughter doesn’t remember a lot of the places she visited when she was two years old, she remembers the excitement and feels a connection to these countries. When she meets someone from Hong Kong or Thailand, she is excited to learn more about the country she visited. Movies and books come alive to her now because she has seen herself in pictures in those places. Travel also brings our family closer together through the good times as well as the challenging times. Even though the pace can be a bit slower with children (and include more naps!) it’s often when we slow down that we learn the most about a new culture.

Survival Tips when Traveling Internationally with Small Children

  1. Set your expectations: Travel day will be hard with kids but time is linear (yes, even flying across time zones) and “this too shall pass.” Even if it’s the worst day of your year, at the end of it you get to start your adventures. Or conversely, you get to return to your comfy bed at home.
  2. Help your child set expectations: There are lots of exciting parts of travel for children (watching planes takeoff, TVs on backs of chairs, and for my kids, JUICE!) but it’s good to help set expectations for your children too. We start explaining to my four year old weeks beforehand about what the travel day will look like. She has started to tell people “on the plane I get to play, eat, sleep, and eat again!”
  3. Bring extra clothes for everyone including adults: I learned this lesson the hard way when our lovely complimentary ANA wine spilled all over me, and I met my new Taiwanese relatives smelling like alcohol…
  4. One packing tip from our great pediatrician: If you are going to borrow a crib from a hotel or friend, bring your own fitted sheet because: 1) it’s a lot softer than the harsh bleached ones, and 2) the smell will remind your child of home and help them sleep better.
  5. Good Traveler Awards: During my childhood, my mom was the queen of traveling with three kids from Germany to Egypt and everywhere in between. She created a great tradition of GTAs, or Good Traveler Awards. When my sisters and I were well behaved, she would magically pull out a wrapped gift. We would squeal with delight! Usually they were small things like coloring books or silly putty.  But once in awhile they would be our favorite Adventures in Odyssey Cassettes. We would listen to these stories for hours. We’ve used GTAs for my daughter on trips to Asia. They have been a wonderful reward for good behavior. And let’s be honest, they’re also a bribe when the going gets tough! This time, I am going to also put little dollar store finds in plastic Easter eggs for small surprises throughout the trip.
  6. A tip from my neighbor who has made the US-Japan trip multiple times with small children and without her husband (saint!) is to stretch every activity to last as long as possible. Cheerios for a snack? Line them up, count them, make a shape on your (cleaned) tray and then eat one at a time. Fruit by the Foot? Pull it out slowly, read the paper, eat a bite then tell a joke and repeat!
traveling with young children
Our GTAs from Taiwan.

I would love to hear your travel stories with your kids you in the comments below!

Related Posts

Traveling with Kids: How to Manage Jet Lag

The Andes: Traveling with Kids

10 Tips for Traveling with Kids in Paris

5 Tips on Traveling to Beijing with Kids

Teaching Kids About Religion by Traveling Around the World or Around the Block

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather
The following two tabs change content below.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
My Instagram profile

Jennifer

Jennifer blogs at MulticulturalMama and creates Family Trip Guides for the Smithsonian Museums in DC at FamilyTripGuides.com. A global nomad as a child, (lived in Germany, the Netherlands, Egypt and the US) she finally found her “home base” outside Washington, D.C. with her Taiwanese American husband and two children. She writes about celebrating cultures and the joys of travel with kids.
My Instagram profile

Latest posts by Jennifer (see all)

  • Easy Mooncake Recipe for the Mid-Autumn Festival  - August 30, 2019
  • 10 Fun Facts About Washington D.C. for Kids - May 31, 2019
  • Including Kids in All Stages of the Family Trip - May 28, 2018

Filed Under: Global Learning for Kids, Learning About Culture, Travel Tagged With: family travel, travel, travel with kids

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required

Comments

  1. Joy Barnes says

    May 26, 2017 at 12:28 pm

    Great article! Thankfully, my kids are older now and traveling is much easier! However, the memories that we have made as a family traveling around Asia and the Pacific are worth any of the short term struggles. Priceless experiences for the whole family!

    • Jennifer says

      May 30, 2017 at 1:55 pm

      Agreed and well put! Short term struggles here we come! 🙂

  2. Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett says

    May 29, 2017 at 7:03 am

    Fantastic post with such practical survival tips! Traveling with young children indeed have so many benefits they learn to be patient, they see new things and places, and many amazing discoveries. They will remember the trips and you can remind them of the details with pictures. Happy travel always!

    • Jennifer says

      May 30, 2017 at 2:11 pm

      Thanks for your comment! Totally agree that a slower pace is often a blessing!

  3. Maria Marshall says

    June 2, 2017 at 9:39 am

    My daughter’s first trip – she was 10 days old. She was a saint. Her big brother, 2.5 reveled in being a helper (until he crashed).
    We flew with them everywhere. At a year, she traveled to Bahama (from Seattle). The biggest thing I learned was with little ones have a bottle for take off and landing. It helps their ears. As they got older, raisins, cherrios, or other chewing treats.
    Like you, I.had a store of treasures & activities. They each had a backpack (once they were 3) and brought their favorite stuffy & books. I always hid a few surprises there and had more in my bag.
    They learned a lot and met people who are still friends. It was worth any minor meltdowns (mostly with a 12 am transfer -my bad!)
    Thanks for.posting this!

  4. Ezzi says

    June 5, 2017 at 8:54 pm

    Thank you for the article , I’ve got a few more tips now Will definitely do the traveling awards next time Especially on my Uk to South Africa trips. My son is thankfully a great traveler from a few months old and been to different continents to visit family and he also has a good routine and can tell you everything from checking in to eating sleeping and of course the TV in the back of the chair. But his coming up to 4 y now and it is getting more challenging to keep him settled and entertained as he is sleeping less during flights, so I will definitely use the Stretching out method for all activities from now on 🙂

Follow Us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on Google+Follow Us on TwitterFollow Us on PinterestFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on Instagram

Anti-Bullying Resource FREE Download

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Grab Our Button!

grab button for Multicultural Kid Blogs
<div class="multicultural-kid-blogs-button" style="width: 200px; margin: 0 auto;"> <a href="https://multiculturalkidblogs.com/" rel="nofollow"> <img src="https://multiculturalkidblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/button-take-3.jpg" alt="Multicultural Kid Blogs" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div>
Multicultural Children's Book Day Co-Host

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT