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We are planning some traveling with our children, particularly with our almost 5 year old. Both domestic and international travel. We are going on a cruise in November, hopefully to Scotland next year and some national parks within the states throughout the year.
Some people in the travel forum say taking children on trips is a waste since they wont remember it, I disagree.
Some people say not to take your children on long flights because they may be disruptive. I do my best to train and teach my children to behave appropriately but they are still children. I believe that adults need to be mature and acknowledge that while not always convienant that children are part of society and have to be tolerated. Why is expecting tolerance too much to ask.
any thoughts
I think you are doing the right thing to expose your children to as many experiences as possible. Who cares what other people think? If they don't understand, then that's their loss. Your children will be able to fit in just about anywhere when they are older because of the variety of things and places you have let them go. In my opinion, that's part of our job as parents - to expose our children to many different and varied experiences, places and people.
We are planning some traveling with our children, particularly with our almost 5 year old. Both domestic and international travel. We are going on a cruise in November, hopefully to Scotland next year and some national parks within the states throughout the year.
Some people in the travel forum say taking children on trips is a waste since they wont remember it, I disagree.
Some people say not to take your children on long flights because they may be disruptive. I do my best to train and teach my children to behave appropriately but they are still children. I believe that adults need to be mature and acknowledge that while not always convienant that children are part of society and have to be tolerated. Why is expecting tolerance too much to ask.
any thoughts
Yes. There is a big difference between traveling with a nearly 5 yr old, than with a toddler. A 5 yr old is old enough to be out of diapers, eat and sleep on a more regular schedule, you can reason with them, they can understand when there's a travel-related problem, they can understand something about what they're seeing when they travel, and if you take pictures of them there enjoying things, you can help them to remember it. I think that traveling with a 5 yr old could be a very nice experience. I had a lovely time traveling with my daughter when she was 4 yrs old. She was just a delightful traveling companion. But when she was just a little bit younger, it would have been awful.
I don't remember much of anything before age 8 or so, but what both science and personal experience says is that the human mind expands most rapidly from birth to age 5. Sure, they'll never be able to come to you in their 20s and say "Mom, remember our trip to the Louvre when I was 3?" but in terms of sheer mental development there's nothing better than exposing children to as much of the world as possible. The sounds (different languages), smells, tastes, sights and feelings will shape their ability to process and operate in the world for a lifetime. It's no different than when studies show that the more words we speak around them from 0-3 the more they hit the ground running once kindergarten hits.
In short, even if they do not form conscious memories they can later communicate on, the psychological growth and foundation that comes from the new experiences found in traveling can put them a step ahead. Take the little nuggets along for the ride I say!
We are planning some traveling with our children, particularly with our almost 5 year old. Both domestic and international travel. We are going on a cruise in November, hopefully to Scotland next year and some national parks within the states throughout the year.
Some people in the travel forum say taking children on trips is a waste since they wont remember it, I disagree.
Some people say not to take your children on long flights because they may be disruptive. I do my best to train and teach my children to behave appropriately but they are still children. I believe that adults need to be mature and acknowledge that while not always convienant that children are part of society and have to be tolerated. Why is expecting tolerance too much to ask.
any thoughts
If the child is almost five that's not a big deal. They may remember the trip and at least there are no diapers to change at the point. I'd say it's fine as long as you're responsible and expect them to behave.
I don't remember much of anything before age 8 or so, but what both science and personal experience says is that the human mind expands most rapidly from birth to age 5. <snip>In short, even if they do not form conscious memories they can later communicate on, the psychological growth and foundation that comes from the new experiences found in traveling can put them a step ahead. Take the little nuggets along for the ride I say!
Yes- you said it far more concisely than I did. My only caveat, as I noted earlier, is to be aware of limitations on how well they can "behave" at their age. It sounded like the OP was pretty realistic about that.
Yes- you said it far more concisely than I did. My only caveat, as I noted earlier, is to be aware of limitations on how well they can "behave" at their age. It sounded like the OP was pretty realistic about that.
I dont ask more of my children than they can handle because I want to be aware of other people. I very much dislike when people bring their children to nice restaurants or even to museums that dont have children's areas. Even in Scotland any site seeing we do will be outside like castles and monuments where we can look and he can run. Flying is the only tough part but he does well on planes and understands what I expect of him at this point.
We travel both with and without our son (9yo). We do not take him on flights to Europe yet because it’s too long to expect him to behave and sit still. We will try that at 10 or 11, maybe: we do take him on all kinds of car trips and flights domestically and to the Caribbean. I would say you know your kids best. If they can sit quietly with a few trips up and down the aisle for long flights go for it. If not, wait until they can.
He probably won't remember anything. Yes, it might have influence on him. I wouldn't take a 5 years old child on an expensive trip far from home because for formative experience it's not necessary to do so. A week-long camping trip, a petting zoo, a local fair, a campfire ritual in the back yard every week work better, IMO. Ocean is warm in Florida.
On "cultural" trips kids ruin everything. They get bored so they get tired, they want water, pee, poo, this cotton candy, that Chupa-Chups, they fall asleep when you are about to enter Uffizi Gallery or Louvre, they would prefer cartoons on mama's lap. Basically, it's the same babysitting at much higher cost. No tavernas on the seashore at 10 pm with a music and dancing - kids should go to bed.
I would take small kids on an overseas trip only if I have prearranged babysitter on each freaking day of the trip, and I have absolutely nobody to leave them at home with. If any reliable healthy grandma - or better, a couple - is available, I'd lure, trick, or buy her to stay with the kids.
My daughter was living in England when her first son was born. She flew with him to Sydney and back when he was only a couple of months old, then again for a family event and then the final flight home when he was less than two. Most of the flights by herself as, for various reasons, her husband came separately. These are 24 hour trips and were pretty difficult. Of course the son remembers nothing of these trips nor of his place of birth. Do not underestimate the difficulty of long flights with little kids. A delay can become a nightmare.
On another tangent, when I was teaching grade 2 and 3 it was in an area with a lot of airline staff. The kids were continually away overseas on holidays. They would report that they had gone to eg Bangkok and they swam in the pool. That they went to Hawaii and swam in the pool. That they suffered from being bumped from first class to business on the way back from Bali, where they swam in the pool. I might add they nearly all have pools at home to swim in. But when they would go camping down the coast, they just loved it. It seemed, for some reason, to broaden their experience more than all the overseas holidays.
People here are pushing it to ask grandparents to mind the kids if they are going overseas as frequently the trips are several weeks, given the length of the flights. We like travelling and we could not leave ours behind when they were young. We took them to various places but I feel it only really became worth the effort when they were about 8 and 10.
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