Go Travel with Your Family as a Lifestyle

A lot has been said about the benefits of traveling alone. In fact, various magazine articles and social media posts are very much advertising it to people, who are especially hesitant of doing a solo trip.

The same thing is not true for family travels; not much has been said about it. You could say that most individuals consider it as a norm already. But this unfortunately undermines the advantages it can bring to families.

Here are some of them:

It enriches life

They say that the secret to happiness is to spend less on material things and more on experiences. Traveling is basically your way of “buying” more experiences not just for you, but your entire family (particularly the children). It can teach them several important lessons about interpersonal skills, self-confidence, and independence.

It leads to better appreciation

Bringing children with you on your travels can truly test your patience, however they can also teach you – or at least remind you – a thing or two about the world around you. You may end up appreciating it better by seeing it through their eyes. A view that is normally plain to you can be wonderful and majestic to them.

It broadens horizons

Traveling can be the best teacher your children will ever have when it comes to geography and sociology. They will literally see the world (or a part of it) by journeying to unfamiliar territories, which can be scary but only if they don’t learn how to adapt to other people and to their cultures as well.

It can help with family bonding

You may have heard of the phrase, “the family that prays together stays together.” But have you heard of the saying, “the family who travels together forms a closer bond?”

This is entirely true mostly because you will end up having to stick together in your travels. But apart from that, it will draw you closer to one another because of all the experiences you will be sharing with each other.

It improves your family’s resilience

Your resilience as a family – much like your patience – will no doubt be tested once you face various challenges on your trip. It could be a cancelled flight, a lost luggage, your hotel reservation did not go through, or having a flat tire while driving your Toyota Vios in Philippine roads.

You can hardly do anything to change them, so what matters is your attitude on how you tackle them. Remember that your children (if you have any) will look up to you when you experience any of these hardships so be sure to become a role model for them.

It expands your kids’ perspective

Traveling can also be great tool for parents to expand their children’s perspective. Nothing like going outside of their comfort zone and the city limits could make them realize that the world is so much bigger than they think.

It teaches families to share

Unfortunately, these days family members do not like to share their stuff with one another. But traveling together will force them to do so, not just with their material objects but also abstract things like their space and time.

Traveling with your family should become a lifestyle for everyone including those without children. After all, it may surprise you what you can learn about your relatives once you go on a vacation together!

Be Sociable, Share!

•