What do Your Little Explorers learn Through Travel?
Family Travel Facts
Research has continued to uncover that family travel benefits children for many reasons and suggests starting young if possible. According to the article by Heike A. Schänzel and Ian Yeoman – The Trends in Family Tourism. Family tourism has become a large and growing trend in the tourism industry. Most families are beginning to value spending quality time with family, bonding, and creating memories.
Top Three Reasons for Family Travel:
- Experiencing a new place or culture (74%)
- Strengthening family relationships (73%)
- Giving children the opportunity to learn new things while having fun (67%).
- For their child-friendly dream vacation, parents would like to be near beaches (72%), restaurants (69%), and amusement parks (59%).
- Parents go on to report that the most important aspects of a family vacation are the location (79%), the budget (71%), and the dates of travel
Source: https://visitanaheim.org/
Family travel is predicted to grow at a faster rate than all other forms of leisure travel, partly because it represents a way to reunite the family and for family members to spend time with each other, away from the demands of work – Schänzel et al., 2012
Being a Little Explorer
Being a single mom isn’t easy. But I strive to give our children the best possible childhood and upbringing. I enrich and support my multicultural children through various meaningful activities to explore and stay curious, such as art & craft, making pastry, playing in the park, after-school activities, and traveling. I also try to establish a family culture by traveling with my little explorers at least once a year. It can range from half-day mini-adventures more regularly to a few days’ summer trips.
Before my multicultural family grew in size, I was already a frequent traveler. There is no doubt that as a world explorer myself or even an ex-pat, I want to extend this tradition to my children. Whether they are multicultural kids or little explorers, I intend to show them the world as much as possible. We are passionate about exploring the world and going on mini-adventures; this is our family culture.
5 Concepts Your Little Explorers Learn Through Travel
1. Fundamental Human Need
By traveling around the world, the little explorers will get to see that we are all human, and we all share the same need regardless of our originality. The most fundamental human needs are water, food, shelter, sleep, novelty, and emotional connection with other humans to build self-esteem and self-security. Eventually, your little explorers will comprehend that different people have different levels of each need in different stages of life.
2. Multiple Ways Of Doing A thing
Your little explorer will also understand that there is rarely one way of doing things, which benefits their problem-solving and creative skills later in life. Little explorers tend to be able to use an alternative way of solving a problem when facing obstacles.
3. Value System Across Cultures
The globe comprises many different types of people, cultures, and value systems. When family travel, it puts your little explorer into a global mindset zone. It is an excellent opportunity to develop the family’s share values. You learn about yourself by seeing others. Ultimately, your little explorer will understand what seems to matter to them may not be valuable and impotent to certain people.
4. Risk & Uncertainty
It is common for things to go wrong during travel, and your little explorer will likely experience situations where things do not go as planned. Your child may begin from having a “meltdown at the spot” to “let’s calm down and work on plan B,” as one of the most critical skills in life to cope with changes is to build resilience when facing uncertainty.
5. Encounter Differences
Family travel is an exciting adventure that opens up new worlds of customs, art & culture, politics, religions, and more. Travel can help your little explorer to discover the world from a different perspective. For example, safety means different things to different people, some places have a late dinner, and some areas wear traditional outfits.
Defined Travel with Your Little Explorers
With the concept of “travel with kids,” many may think of expensive airline tickets and fancy resorts. Immediately feels the pressure of not being to afford the trip, not having enough time for a two weeks vacation, or traveling with kids is way too tiring.
Some of you may want to lay on the beach soaking in the paradise sun or have a fantastic day in Disneyland, but this may not be easy for many people. The truth is you don’t have to spend on expensive airplane tickets and plan a fancy trip to travel with your little explorer! The family travel trend also has been switching from booking a deluxe resort to participating in voluntary work.
If you want your little explorers to learn about the cultures, start with the local museums and cultural tourism, or visit places like Chinatown for a half-day family trip! If you want to explore nature, perhaps create a mini-adventure to walk in the woods and small hikes. Whatever comes easy around you is always a good beginning point to travel with kids.
Traveling with kids can be frustrating. Many parents even think that going far from home is unthinkable. However, When you travel with kids, you give them an experience that no one can take away from them. The exposure to different cultures, the learning experience of being in another place of your own, and understanding the different ways of life rather than just yours. Overall, traveling is an educational opportunity and a great family bonding activity regardless of the age of your little explorer.
