17 May Raising Adventurers

We just did something pretty ambitious – we took our four kids ages 10, 8, 6, and 3 on a European tour of four countries in about 12 days. It was a whirlwind adventure across the ocean for one main purpose:  We long for our children to discover the world.

My husband and I met in Ghana, West Africa in 2000 where we spent a summer doing evangelistic outreach in rural villages. This was followed by a summer in India doing similar work, then in Israel, Haiti, and eventually we did a 20 nation Around the World Trip in 2005. You could say we like to travel.

Since we have had kids, our international travel has been quite limited. We went once on our own to Haiti when our first child was a year and a half old and my husbands work has taken him overseas quite a bit, but this was the first time we had taken our children abroad.

Seeing the World for the First Time

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.”
-Bill Bryson

We traveled economy class to London, of which my eight year old daughter exclaimed, “Mom, are these are seats?! They are beautiful!” Which reminded me of the appreciation people often have when they experience something for the first time.

As we touched down in a new country, England, we took in all the sights, sounds, tastes, experiences we could. We drank in this new place with the thirst of excitement. From the Tower of London to the Churchill War Rooms, we soaked in all this new information and stood in places where 700-800 years of history had taken place.

And as we did, my greatest delight was watching them take it all in. Their eyes wide, they roamed the gardens of the Palace Versailles or the grounds of the Assumburg castle in Holland. They gazed at the countryside of France as we traveled via Euro Rail and watched chocolate makers in Belgium pour liquid loveliness before their eyes, teaching them how to craft their very own candy.

Kids Are Capable

Every day of our trip we walked at least 5 miles, sometimes up to 7. All of my girls did this, while we pushed my little boy most of the time in a great, lightweight stroller that proved to be invaluable. The kids tried new food and drink and learned words in different languages, listening closely to how people spoke in new and different ways from themselves.

They carried their own backpacks and pulled their own suitcases and hustled to get to trains without much complaining. One of my biggest takeaways from this trip is how capable my kids really are when I allow them to rise to the occasion. Sometimes we as parents worry how our kids will do in new places or experiences, which is understandable. But the risk is worth it when we take the plunge together and learn and grow as we go.

At the end of our trip, all of our girls said, “Can we go to another country now? Where are we going next?” I think it’s pretty certain they caught the travel bug! How about you? Are there places you have been wanting to take your kids? Places they have been asking you to visit? Make a plan and go for it! Let’s teach our kids not to be afraid of the world but to set out exploring it! Your next adventure is just around the corner.