Anonymous wrote:Travel with young kids isn’t so that they’ll have “memories.” Exposing young kids to travel, new cultures, languages, food, and experiences impacts their development in such a positive way, allowing them to be more adventurous, open minded, and helps them to be more flexible and less anxious about new experiences in general. Not easy, necessarily, but rewarding so long as you keep your expectations in check that it’s not a “vacation”

Well said.

Anonymous wrote:Do you just hang out at the hotel post bedtime if you travel with little kids??

It just depends.

We did the UK and just kept the kids on their US schedule, so they slept in late and stayed up late. We'd wake up, have coffee and read the news while they snoozed. It was great.

We've also stayed in AirBnBs with patios or balconies where we had a view and could enjoy a drink after kid bedtime.

On some trips we were go go go from early each day and would crash with the kids.

We also have taken grandparents and alternated who stayed with the sleeping kids while others went out.

Do you just hang out at the hotel post bedtime if you travel with little kids??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’re traveling for yourself, then yes. But if you are thinking that they will love Paris at age 4, no.

It was like being in a madeliene book: Pushing that little sailboat around, riding ponies, eating pastries, chasing pigeons, eating crepes, zipping ip the eiffel tower, mummies at the louvre, my 4 yo loved it!

My 2 year old loved Paris. But mostly, I loved Paris!

I wish we had travelled more when kids were younger and we weren’t beholden to the school calendar. There are also cool things for little kids to do in Europe that we don’t have here. When my youngest was 4, he loved playing on playgrounds in lots of town squares while I sat with a coffee of glass of wine at the adjacent cafe. My 12 year old was not so thrilled and sat next to me asking for my phone. He will remember the trip while the 4 year old may not, but who had more fun? The 4yo by far!

By the time you really regret not traveling much when they are young, they are off traveling on their own. Financing it themselves, going where they want to go. Making it happen. Luckily -not- providing much does not mean they won't find a way to be world travelers.

We traveled to places like Germany, Ireland, and Italy once the kids were older than three.

I am sooo glad we did. Once they are teenagers it becomes harder. They have so many activities and have opinions about everything. It is still great, but much more challenging to schedule and make people happy.

We did change they way we travel when the kids were small. For example, we would stay at one hotel and take day trips. Spy for ruins,castles out of the car. It was great fun! If anything, we wished we traveled more when they were young.

On the flip side we're VERY happy we've traveled with our now 12 year old since she was a baby (including flights). It wasn't an issue back then, and traveling with her since she was 4ish has been a complete breeze. Definitely do it if you can, when they're little. Even road trips. That was the bulk of our travel. Sleeping in different environments is also great. My sister hasn't done that with hers and they require a rigid environment to go to sleep.

It’s funny that many of the “don’t bother traveling” posters all talk about what the kids will or won’t remember.
I hope my kids remember some of the travel we have done since they were babies (they do at the moment, aged 13 and 11), but I’m traveling for MY memories too! I know my 4 year old would also have been happy in a local playground, but I get to have a memory of playing with her in a cool park in Lisbon with a great cafe next to it. These child-rearing years can be hard in many ways and it’s important to me and my DH to enjoy it as much as we can, and that’s why we travel with our kids. We love it, and the memories we make are for us as much as, or maybe more than, for them. Just returned from a fabulous trip in Guatemala and planning our next trip over spring break now!

DD is 10 now. We didn’t start traveling internationally with her until she was about 3 ½. I’m glad we waited. By then she was more willing to eat (before then she had eating issues). I didn’t have to worry about changing diapers and she had control enough to ask for bathroom before it was a panic at the disco. She could walk quite a bit so strollers weren’t always necessary (we’d still bring umbrella stroller). It was all so much easier.

Travel with young kids isn’t so that they’ll have “memories.” Exposing young kids to travel, new cultures, languages, food, and experiences impacts their development in such a positive way, allowing them to be more adventurous, open minded, and helps them to be more flexible and less anxious about new experiences in general. Not easy, necessarily, but rewarding so long as you keep your expectations in check that it’s not a “vacation”

Anonymous wrote:If you’re traveling for yourself, then yes. But if you are thinking that they will love Paris at age 4, no.

It was like being in a madeliene book: Pushing that little sailboat around, riding ponies, eating pastries, chasing pigeons, eating crepes, zipping ip the eiffel tower, mummies at the louvre, my 4 yo loved it!

I'm glad we did travel when our kid was that age. Life is too short to stop doing something you are passionate about for a long period of time. Sure, our kid doesn't remember the trips, but we fondly do. Of course, we only had one well behaved kid, so that probably helped.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. High school has been a surprisingly difficult time to travel. Elementary and middle schools years are no question the best travel years! My advice is to take advantage of it.

I am glad we traveled even when the kids were little because of this. I found it much easier to travel when my youngest was four compared to when my oldest was 16. In my experience -granted this isn’t everyone’s - teens are moodier and struggle more with getting up early to go sightseeing than the little kids.

I’ve always traveled with DS and it’s for me more than him, but as a PP pointed out, it’s good experience for them too and they can have fun even if they don’t remember everything. I mean, you take them to the park and the zoo while they’re young, and they won’t remember all those trips, so why not take them to other new places?

By the time DS was 12 he was really good at navigating airports, train stations, subways, etc. He’s never been a picky eater so that has never been a problem. He’s confident now going off on his own as a late teen, and I think that’s a great attribute to have.