Even though we’re new parents, our children aren’t babies. We have two walking and talking (well one talking, one babbling) tiny humans who are now solely reliant on us. Scary stuff. Obviously, our lives have changed drastically and it’s made us think about our future as a family. As we have a passion for travel, we hope it’s an interest that our children have too. Obviously, we don’t want to force them to go places or do things that they don’t want to. However, we do want to give them the opportunity to see what the big wide world has to offer. In fact, we think that travel is important for our children. We are in a position where we are able to travel with them. That luxury is something that we will never take for granted. Therefore we will educate them that they’re privileged to be able to do so.
As adults who’ve travelled all our lives, we feel that travel has had a massive impact and shaped us into the people we are today. Travel has a number of benefits. We feel that not only can it help us learn a lot about the world, it can also help us learn a lot about ourselves too. Therefore we feel that the younger our children are when they start to travel, the sooner they’ll learn these things too. We appreciate that not everyone is in the position to travel far or freely. Even though we feel travel is important for our children, not all the things we want our children to learn and understand have to be done in some far-flung land. In fact, a number of things can be leant and appreciated a lot closer to home.
Understand History
Learning about history is a big thing for both of us. We enjoy learning about the particular history of the place we are visiting and hunt down pertinent sites in that destination. It’s important for us that our children understand not only the history of Great Britain but also that of other countries – the good and the bad. Europe has such a varied and checkered history. Therefore we think it is a great place to start. We have plenty of historic sites right on our doorstep. This means road trips and staycations can not only be fun but also educational too.
Living in England we also benefit from being able to snap up cheap flights through a range of budget airlines. Together with a whole host of last minute cruises from Southampton, the largest cruise port in the UK to various places not only in Europe but also around the world. This means that visiting mainland Europe is super easy for us. This will allow us to introduce our children to a plethora of key historic sites and how they fit into the city’s rich historical tapestry. These include places such as the colosseum in Rome, Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and The Eiffel Tower in Paris, amongst many others.
Appreciate Other Cultures
We feel that learning about and appreciating other people’s cultures, religions and traditions are extremely important for our children. We live in a part of England, that following the last UK Census showed 94% of the people who live here are Christian white British. Therefore, our children will not have the opportunity to learn from others with different backgrounds and/or cultures on a daily basis. So if we can do that through travel by visiting a range of different countries in order to make them realise that not everyone thinks the same or believes in the same things, we feel it will make them more well rounded and understanding.
Get Closer To Nature
With record highs relating to childhood obesity being reported, getting outdoors and being active is vital for little ones. Therefore, we want to promote that to our children. We have some beautiful places locally, which we will, of course, take our children too and encourage them to enjoy. However, having visited a number of countries which are famed for their natural beauty (Canada, Australia and Slovenia we’re especially looking at you), we want them to see such places for themselves. We want them to hike trails, climb mountains, swim in oceans and generally enjoy the great outdoors and appreciate the amazingly beautiful things the world has to offer.
Try New Food
Food is a massive thing for us. As both self-confessed fussy eaters when we were young, we want to promote trying new cuisines to our children. Obviously, it would be easier for us, if they simply eat what we eat when we are travelling. But in reality, we’re aware that isn’t as simple as it sounds. Kids can be funny when it comes to food. Luckily for us, our children are willing to try most things at home. Therefore, we are sure that they’d be willing to try whatever we put in front of them while travelling. From pizza in Italy to sushi in Japan and not forgetting Pad Thai in Thailand and all the sausages in Germany, we cannot wait to have their tastebuds tantalised by local delicacies and delights.
Have Fun
This, of course, had to make our list, after all, they are children, one of which is school age. Therefore she deserves to have fun when she’s not in the classroom. Since the children came to live with us, we have obviously had bucket loads of fun. Kids find the craziest things entertaining and we have been exploring their likes and tastes. With this in mind, we want them to realise that travelling can be not only enriching, educational but fun-filled too. That is why one of the first trips we will be taking as a family is to Disneyland Paris – what’s more fun than spending time with Mickey and his mates. We also hope that travelling as a family of four is fun for us all and allows us to create some amazing memories that will last a lifetime.
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