It is said that travel broadens the mind. Heading off on an adventure with children is certainly an exciting experience, and creates memories that they are likely to treasure for a long time. With a little help from parents travel can give children a better understanding of the world that they will one day inherit.
On a practical level giving children information about their destination can go a long way towards helping them enjoy it when they get there and encourage excitement about the prospect in advance. Here are some ideas from newly published Lonely Planet guide to Travel With Children, which can easily be incorporated into everyday life:
• MAP
Pin up a map of the region or country that you are visiting. Older children could mark on it where they’d like to go (and keep your fingers crossed that it resembles parental plans).
• BOOKS
Get some guidebooks and picture books from the library about where you’re going and look at them together. Try to find books of legends or children’s stories from the region. You may be surprised at how much sticks. Barefoot Books offer a wonderful range of myths and legends from around the world – try Grandmother Stories: Wise Woman Tales from Many Cultures or The Barefoot Book of Earth Tales.
• MUSIC
Introducing your children to the musical culture of a country that you are planning on visiting can be a really fun way to get the excitement flowing. Putumayo have a wide selection of wonderful rhymical treats; World Playground includes vibrant songs from around the world, Celtic Dreamland is a beautiful introduction to the music of Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Northern France and the tunes on Reggae Playground are as infectious and uplifting as you would expect.
• FILMS
This will give a good visual image of what the country will be like. For instance what child that’s watched and loved the Sound of Music does not want to go straight from the sofa to Salzburg?
• RESTAURANTS AND HOME COOKING
Even if you’re only going away for a couple of weeks, it’s fun to take your children to a restaurant that serves the same cuisine as the country that you are going to. If you’re going on a longer trip try introducing a few different foods or flavours into your home cooking so that the food on your travels won’t be completely new.
• LEARNING THE LANGUAGE
If your children can say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in the local language, this will endear them to every shopkeeper, hotelier and restauranteur in the country and allow them to find their feet more quickly when playing with local children. Learning some of the local language can be useful as well as enjoyable and it will help children’s confidence if they can converse with a few key words. Children usually pick up languages quickly, particularly younger ones.
• INTERNET
Older children can be encouraged to go online and do some reserach on your holiday destination or route planning if you’re travelling for longer. Depending on their age (and on how brave you feel), you might even give them the responsibility of booking some tickets.
Do you have any tips for travelling with children – please leave a comment and share them with our readers.
Melissa Corkhill is the editor of The Green Parent magazine, mother of two and author of the book Green Parenting
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