Do you regret not traveling more when kids are little?

[Anonymous]

Outside of short road trips, I haven’t traveled much since having a kid who is 4 now (partly because of the pandemic, but also it just seems like a hassle). Used to go all over the world before that. I’m starting to feel like I need to resume traveling though, even if a lot it is just going to be finding things to entertain my kid.

Did any of you not travel much until your kids got older? And do you regret that at all? I know I’ll have plenty more years to travel, and it’ll be a lot easier if I just wait another 2-3 years, but wondering if I should just make a plan and go somewhere now…plus I don’t want to look back and think so what if he was 4, I should’ve just gone!

Also if anyone has suggestions for an “easier” trip abroad with a kid that age, that would be great.

[Anonymous]

God no. That’s a horrible age to travel with them. They are not rational creatures. They don’t transition well. They’re picky eaters, they go to bed early, they have pee and poop accidents. Why would you want to spend the money on travel with them now?

It’s much easier when they are a bit older, like 7+.

[Anonymous]

Not at all. Travel is more meaningful when they're older.

We're an international family, and have traveled with our kids to Asia and Europe to see close relatives, since they were babies. Let me tell you: kids don't have the memories you want them to have until they're in their tweens or teens Before that they're going to have memories... of things that interest them! Mostly little snippets of food (my daughter has an undying memory of a Italian-Japanese spaghetti with fish roe in Tokyo), or animals (pigeons in Paris), or funny things that happened (sleeping on futons in a traditional Japan inn and always rolling into mine by the end of the night), that you might not remember. The iconic castles, landscapes, monuments, are likely going to go woosh above their heads.

So... only you can determine if these things are worth it. When they're older, academic and extra-curricular demands ramp up a lot, and it becomes difficult to juggle everyone's schedule sometimes. Travel gets more expensive because they pay adult prices. But they remember more stuff!

[Anonymous]

I have an almost 4 year old. First big trip at 2.5 was Ireland and UK. Then we took her To Puerto Rico recently. Both were definitely worth the hassle. Highly recommended. She’s also been on shorter trips around the US. I love traveling and it’s really fun to do things with her. Parts of it do suck - travel days are hard, she’s a picky eater so I have to plan for that and sleep gets a bit messed up, but traveling with her gives me confidence as a parent - that me, as someone who likes routine and for things to go a certain way, can deal with issues that pop up and when things aren’t perfect. It is so fun to take her places and show her new things. I also love seeing how other cultures treat children. She got so much positive attention where I feel like she gets none of that out and about in dc. I also don’t care that she won’t remember it. I don’t remember a lot of my trips! My two cents, but I vote to go for it! Start with trips where the flight is less than 3 hours.

[Anonymous]

No. My kids are teens now and have no recollections of any trip before age 8.

[Anonymous]

My kids are 14, 11, and 9. They are good travelers now. I wonder if I hadn't traveled them when they were younger, if I would think travel with kids at any age is hard - like I wouldn't appreciate how much better they got as they got older.

Over this winter break, I did a quick 3 kid count check while walking thru the airport to make sure we had everyone, and I had to do a double take to find my 14 year old because he was taller than my sister who he was walking next to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 14, 11, and 9. They are good travelers now. I wonder if I hadn't traveled them when they were younger, if I would think travel with kids at any age is hard - like I wouldn't appreciate how much better they got as they got older.

Over this winter break, I did a quick 3 kid count check while walking thru the airport to make sure we had everyone, and I had to do a double take to find my 14 year old because he was taller than my sister who he was walking next to.

Me again - one thing that you're missing out on, at age 4 - is being able to travel at low crowd non-school holiday times - or at least not pulling your kid out of real school to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Travel is more meaningful when they're older.

We're an international family, and have traveled with our kids to Asia and Europe to see close relatives, since they were babies. Let me tell you: kids don't have the memories you want them to have until they're in their tweens or teens Before that they're going to have memories... of things that interest them! Mostly little snippets of food (my daughter has an undying memory of a Italian-Japanese spaghetti with fish roe in Tokyo), or animals (pigeons in Paris), or funny things that happened (sleeping on futons in a traditional Japan inn and always rolling into mine by the end of the night), that you might not remember. The iconic castles, landscapes, monuments, are likely going to go woosh above their heads.

So... only you can determine if these things are worth it. When they're older, academic and extra-curricular demands ramp up a lot, and it becomes difficult to juggle everyone's schedule sometimes. Travel gets more expensive because they pay adult prices. But they remember more stuff!

School aged kids 5+ remember more of the travel experience than what you think - at least I did and my kids do. Younger elementary is a great age to start IME, and they can learn a lot.

[Anonymous]

No, they don't remember the few trips we went on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Travel is more meaningful when they're older.

We're an international family, and have traveled with our kids to Asia and Europe to see close relatives, since they were babies. Let me tell you: kids don't have the memories you want them to have until they're in their tweens or teens Before that they're going to have memories... of things that interest them! Mostly little snippets of food (my daughter has an undying memory of a Italian-Japanese spaghetti with fish roe in Tokyo), or animals (pigeons in Paris), or funny things that happened (sleeping on futons in a traditional Japan inn and always rolling into mine by the end of the night), that you might not remember. The iconic castles, landscapes, monuments, are likely going to go woosh above their heads.

So... only you can determine if these things are worth it. When they're older, academic and extra-curricular demands ramp up a lot, and it becomes difficult to juggle everyone's schedule sometimes. Travel gets more expensive because they pay adult prices. But they remember more stuff!

School aged kids 5+ remember more of the travel experience than what you think - at least I did and my kids do. Younger elementary is a great age to start IME, and they can learn a lot.

My HS kid doesn't remember the trips at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God no. That’s a horrible age to travel with them. They are not rational creatures. They don’t transition well. They’re picky eaters, they go to bed early, they have pee and poop accidents. Why would you want to spend the money on travel with them now?

It’s much easier when they are a bit older, like 7+.

+1 And for certain places, I would say, even tweens/early teens is not ideal to travel with. They don't appreciate the history, the culture, etc.. My kids are now 15/18, and in the past, most of our vacations had to have a child/tween friendly component to it, which is not my favorite. My 15 yr old still doesn't appreciate the scenery or architecture or museums like we do.

I'm counting down the days until the youngest goes off to college so we can travel to places where *we* want to go, and that *we* find interesting.

[Anonymous]

No not at all. They don't even remember the trips back then!

[Anonymous]

I think at younger ages travel is more for you than for them, but that is fine! We didn't even try before the kids were fully potty trained - learned that the hard way on a long weekend 😞

What I do find with my homebody 3rd grader is that he's a good sport once you're going somewhere, but on every trip, he says he wishes we would just spend more time hanging out at the cabin/hotel/wherever we're staying. That's not the point, kid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Travel is more meaningful when they're older.

We're an international family, and have traveled with our kids to Asia and Europe to see close relatives, since they were babies. Let me tell you: kids don't have the memories you want them to have until they're in their tweens or teens Before that they're going to have memories... of things that interest them! Mostly little snippets of food (my daughter has an undying memory of a Italian-Japanese spaghetti with fish roe in Tokyo), or animals (pigeons in Paris), or funny things that happened (sleeping on futons in a traditional Japan inn and always rolling into mine by the end of the night), that you might not remember. The iconic castles, landscapes, monuments, are likely going to go woosh above their heads.

So... only you can determine if these things are worth it. When they're older, academic and extra-curricular demands ramp up a lot, and it becomes difficult to juggle everyone's schedule sometimes. Travel gets more expensive because they pay adult prices. But they remember more stuff!

School aged kids 5+ remember more of the travel experience than what you think - at least I did and my kids do. Younger elementary is a great age to start IME, and they can learn a lot.

My HS kid doesn't remember the trips at all.

I suppose this is highly variable. I have such solid memories of a trip I took at age 6: walking the red line in Boston, going to Paul Revere's house, throwing tea off the boat at the Tea Party Museum, going to Plymouth Village. Forty years later it's still with me, and I don't have any photos of this stuff.

[Anonymous]

We lived abroad in Europe for a semester when my kids were 4 and 1. It was an absolute nightmare honestly and I would never recommend it. I have some fun memories, but mostly I feel stress when I think about it.

On the other hand I have some very fond memories of trips to Aruba around that age. So much less stress, easy to drive around, take naps, eat in at night while they are sleeping…now my kids are older (tweens), they are fabulous International travelers. Be patient!