Sunny face, friendly smile and curious eyes. Understanding, asking questions, making friends of any origin and speaking any language. Be a parent of a kid, who travelled!
Have a kid who travelled. Your kid will be flexible, adaptable and easy-going. Will fall asleep easily while waiting for the plane, in a loud hostel or on a crowded ferry boat. Will feel safe and always at home, wherever the life will take him/her. Will be used to eating and enjoying foods like: raw fish, the cheapest rice or melted chocolate. Will not be afraid of getting wet in the rain and sweaty during sun. This child will know that the rain is just a rain, which can dry fast and the dirt is just a dirt, which can be washed away.
Have a kid who travelled. Your kid will make long-time friends with one smile. Will be liked by many because of his/her ability to be understanding and emphatic. Will know that people can be very different, can look, talk or smell in different ways, but they are all the same and can become a family just because. But your kid will not cry when saying goodbye, because he/she will know that goodbyes often are just prolonged see-you-laters.
Have a kid who travelled. Your kid will be positive and see challenges instead of problems and will surprise you! “Mummy, no worries!”, “Daddy, if not this one, then another”, “Mummy, it’s JUST a…” – you will hear and feel supported in difficult moments.
Have a kid who travelled. Your kid will be able to live happily with less. He/she will meet a lot of kids having fun just with stones and sticks and will enjoy her/his toys back home with a deeper reflection. Your kid will be happier about a little gift from somebody he/she loves than an expensive gadget. A kid who travels doesn’t need iPhone Apps to allay boredom. A funny-shaped stone can become a dinosaur and a big tree – the best thing to climb on. The kid will know what sharing is. They will learn from other kids who sometimes have no toys at all. He/she will learn that the whole world is an exciting, colourful, lively playground. Your child will learn to distinguish between the important things and the things that are only ballast and make you get stuck or walk slower.
Have a kid who travelled. Your kid will understand the importance of languages. Will know what communication is: verbal and non-verbal, will learn every new one easier and faster. The smile has no dialect, doesn’t matter if you sit with refugee children, Mexican girls or Tongan boys.
Have a kid who travelled. Your kid’s relationships with the ones he/she loves will be stronger. Your kid will experience what it means to miss someone and will know the feeling of their return. Your relationship with your kid will also be stronger: what bounds people is the time together in different circumstances and common memories. You will be the one who showed your kid the world: adventures, happiness, sunshine, rain and joyful times will be connected with the mother, father and sister – not with the TV or a computer game. Your kid might do the same and have a happy family later on.
Have a kid who travelled. Your kid will be a better host and a better person in the future. Will know what it means to meet somebody, who is just helpful: giving a place to stay, a dinner to eat and a smile and hug, when it’s needed. Will understand the need of helping and trusting other people. And will want to be the same!
Have a kid who travelled. Your kid will be more independent, responsible and less afraid of new things. He/she might loose his/her teddy bear on the way and cry, but they will take care of the next one much more. They will be able to get out of the tent in the middle of the night or stay with new-friends-strangers without to being a big deal.
Have a kid who travelled. Your kid, who experienced touching ancient stone relics and snakes in the jungle, watched the free animals in the forest, tired the fruits from the trees, drank milk from a cow, water from the rain or a river and touched fire from wood or lava from the volcano will know and understand more of the world. Will be used to being curious, asking the questions, understanding the world, trying to get the answers and finding a practical solution in every situation. Will know the basics about places, history, culture, religions, behaviours, live and food and it will be his/her more conscious choice, which direction he/she will go in life.
Have a kid who travelled. Your kid will be more aware and more sensitive for the big worlds’ issues, sometimes very difficult to describe. After meeting a little girl, who cried because of turtles being killed, after seeing villages after the flood or experiencing life without water.
Your kid’s head and heart will be open, he/she will not need much to be happy and his/hers notebook will be full of contacts to people around the world, who can help and inspire him in the future life. I’m telling you, have a kid who travelled.
This post is also available in: German
Our first book is out!
We have published our first book (for now just in Polish:) about our Central America Trip.
See, read and order here »
13 Comments
Nice thanks for suggestion its true i also have kids and i love much more to travel with theme
Where do you travel with them?
Pięknie napisane – aż żałuję, że sama nigdy nie miałam okazji podróżować z rodziną/jako dziecko. :)
Ja też :)
Myślę, że wiele osób nie zgodzi(łoby) się z tym, co napisaliście w tym poście (no i mają do tego prawo), ale ja zgadzam się w 100% i zamierzam to praktykować :) Jeszcze raz wszystkiego dobrego dla Was!
PS. Ładnie napisany tekst :)
Dzięki! No ja czekam, żeby ktoś się otwarcie nie zgodził, ale nie mogę się doczekać! :))
You and your fantastic family are my inspiration. I relly hope that my dreams come true in the future. With my little son Igor and husband Grzegorz. You made my day… everyday :) Best wishes from Żuławy !
Thank you, Żuławy! :) Take Igor and Grzegorz and let us know how is your trip one day!
Wszystko super, tylko… jak tu się kochać z mężem?! :)
ha! napisać wpis na ten temat? :))) mogę!
Tak! Prosimy!
Koniecznie! :)
Nice post, Anna. I have seen a huge change for the better in my three children as they travel. I do think balance is important as children also need stability and to be in touch with the community / society they live in too, but yes – Have a kid who travelled. :)