If you’ve completed or aspired to any international travel destination with your children (or any destination that people consider expensive or far away), you have likely heard direct or implied versions of the above statement. People typically believe that the financial cost and the inconvenience of travel with children is so great that you could not possibly be accurately weighing the pros and cons of this plan of yours. Here’s the honest truth… in the youngest of travelers, they are completely correct. The child is not laying down specific memories of the time they are spending on that trip. In all likelihood, your one-year-old will never recall explicit memories from the Switzerland trip you spent a year planning.
Here’s why you should absolutely take them on that trip anyway. (P.S. Adults-only travel completely rocks. You’ll never find me bashing a trip without the kids. When I tell you I couldn’t love a good girls trip more, I mean it. Couples trips are a life-giving gem every. single. time. But this article focuses exclusively on the trips you can and should take with your kids in tow.)
For me, the reasons fall into two basic categories.
Every early childhood experience shapes our kids in implicit, rather than explicit ways. This doesn’t make those experiences any less important. I believe I am likely preaching to the choir here. As soon as you become a parent, you quickly understand the importance of your child’s day-to-day experiences as you watch them learn and grow from one day to the next. They obviously do not remember the day they spoke their first word years later when they give their acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize (too much? ;)), but every moment built up to that. Our experiences shape us, whether we remember them or not. In travel, we hear different languages, take in incredible views, see people who look different from us, try new foods, and stretch and grow in new ways. In short, travel helps us become flexible, adaptable, compassionate, empathetic, and simply… much, much more interesting. This isn’t just because we remember the moments these epiphanies hit us as we traveled, instead, they become the way we live. When we learn these traits from a young age, I would strongly argue that they’re more likely to stick around for good (just like learning that second language). Our brain is very, very flexible when we’re young. When you select an amazing preschool for your child, when you expose them to new foods, when you smile and laugh and connect with them, not a single one of those efforts was wasted. So too for travel. Yes, your child will likely not remember a single second of their international flight as a lap infant, but the ways their brain records that information is far from trivial.
Adult memories matter too. In my professional work, one of my favorite parts of working with very young children has always been watching the amazement on their parent’s face when they see their child do something for the first time… whether it’s solve a problem in a new way, manipulate a small item with ease, or use an advanced word the parent hasn’t heard from them before. Now, seeing it through my own eyes as a parent is on another level. Again, I’m speaking to the choir here, but it’s incredible to watch your child succeed or experience something new. Travel is one of the ways in which we get to do that with our children. It’s a particularly powerful tool for parents who themselves love to travel and see new places. Seeing your child experience wonder and amazement is a memory every parent should get. If travel is your brand, I hope you get to do it through travel.
All in all, I hope this encourages you to book the trip. Make the memories, even when your child is too young to remember the trip explicitly later in their life. Travel with kids has unique challenges. Lots of them. My website and many others are dedicated to ways to help make that easier, but I encourage you to work toward the goal you want to reach (domestic, international travel, whatever that might be). Happy travels!