There are two groups of parents – those who travel with kids, and those who don’t. The parents who don’t travel with their kids often say the kids will never remember it and travel is wasted on them and they’ll only remember it through photographs. The reality is that traveling is just like going to a playground and playing with your kids, or reading a book to them at night, except it’s better. It’s about experiencing things together as a family and making memories. They will remember that part and their character will be better for it, especially with all the good learning opportunities out there for children. Here are seven excellent reasons why parents should travel with their kids.

1. Travel improves developmental milestones.

Children learn every minute of every day. When you travel with children, they can observe and experience a lot more sights, sounds, smells, colours, and languages from an earlier age. Imagine associating your son’s first words to travel to a certain country or knowing that your daughter’s love of the ocean comes from a sailing trip you took when she was very young.

2. Travel makes children more flexible.

Travel makes children understand a new baseline, a new normal. It helps them be more adaptable to different situations and not be so rigid in their habits and schedules. They can learn to eat with chopsticks then with their hands depending where they are. They learn to sleep where they can and eat the food that they can find. They’re more willing to try new foods and learn new experiences instead of becoming picky or worse, entitled.

3. They learn the importance of multilingualism.

Children quickly learn that people in different countries speak different languages, and even different dialects within the same country. They understand the importance of language and how it can bring people together. As per Tonya Rhodes, an educator at Academized, “It also helps them become multilingual, which is an extremely valuable skill in this global world. Because children learn languages much quicker than adults, they can easily learn more languages when travelling.”

4. We’re all human no matter the physical differences.

Travel is the best way for children to learn about diversity and see everyone as human beings regardless of physical differences. It can educate kids about why some people have different skin colours, different religions, and different cultural norms. Kids can make friends with other kids in different countries that have totally opposite backgrounds but if they have a similar interest, they can be friends. This is perhaps the best lesson kids can learn when travelling at a young age.

5. Travel creates curiosity.

Children who travel are more likely to have active imagination and become more curious and creative about the world around them. Children will find many different ways to turn a tourist visit to an important landmark into a whole world of make-believe and become true explorers. No matter which country you go to, they will ask so many questions and always have a thirst for adventure. These are skills that they further develop during their childhood and serve as a good foundation for adulthood.

6. Travel pushes us to try new things.

Travel is a great way for kids to learn new things and always be open to trying new experiences. Whether it’s camping in the desert, playing in the snow, or going ziplining, travel opens up so many possibilities that they become used to trying something out before deciding if they like it and it will serve as a foundation for their interests later on in life.

7. Children learn about the world.

Kids who travel will naturally be much more interested in world geography, maps, history, and even airplanes. They start to understand how the world works and just how huge and diverse the world is. They love to learn new capitals of countries, being able to locate it on a map, and know what languages a country speaks. These are crucial life skills that they start learning much earlier than most other children.

Travelling with kids is certainly not easy and comes with unique challenges, but it’s definitely not wasted for these top 7 reasons.