Why you should travel with kids

A lot of people stop travelling when they have kids, or at least put it off until they are in their teens. Which I completely get, there’s the added cost, the sudden change in routine, which some children just don’t handle, the pure chaos of trying to coordinate everything, and not to mention the over stimulated and overtired little people.

While every family dynamic is different and every child handles travelling differently, I’m going to share some great reasons to embrace the chaos and go on a family holiday.

Taking a rest at Tahune Adventures Tasmania

• Reconnect – Holidays are a create way for families to slow down and reconnect

• Build bonds – Often when we are on holidays, we do a lot of activities and experiences that we wouldn’t normally do, and doing these things with out kids helps us to build bonds as we often stumble across a new interests

• Learn – Holidays are a great way to learn, seeing things rather than reading about them in a book or watching videos. I remember when I was walking around Rome I was thinking, if I had my school history lessons here I might have actually like history in school. Even as an adult I’m become a lot more interested in history than I was when I was at school because I can “see” and “experience” it.

• Adjustment – exposing children to situations out of the normal everyday routine can help them adjust to changes in life

• Exposure – when travelling children are often exposed to new things that they may not

  otherwise have been exposed to, this could be different foods, experiences, cultures, customs and religions, all of which help shape them as they grow

• The excitement – We have just booked our first Disney Cruise and I was telling our 3 year old that we are going on a cruise. After explaining to him what a cruise was, he said “I don’t want to go on a cruise” (clearly, I didn’t make it sound exciting enough), until I showed him a video on YouTube of all the things on Disney Wonder. Now the first thing I get at wake up is “we going on the cruise?” then the melt down because he’s so excited to go on the cruise and wants to go now. Despite the melt downs because we aren’t going today, it warms my heart so much that he’s excited to go

• The firsts – I love seeing the joy on my children’s faces when the see, discover or experience something for the first time. While they may not necessarily remember the experience, we will as parents and have plenty of photos to show when we talk about past holidays in years to come

Exploring the rock pools in Mooloolaba

Holidays don’t have to be big expensive affairs; they can be as simple as packing the tent and going camping for a couple of nights or staying at a local hotel and doing a couple of local experiences. A lot of accommodation, especially caravan parks, will offer discounts for locals who stay with them as well so make sure you ring up and ask, there’s no harm in asking.

Your family holidays also don’t need to be packed full of activities, I find it’s the travel days and the days that are packed full of activity that cause the most trouble with our kids when we are away.

Enjoying some quiet time

Tip: My tip for travelling with children is to be flexible, be prepared to change plans if you think a quiet day is needed.