I’m going to get a little personal with y’all today! When JP and I got married, one thing we knew we wanted to do was travel. This was almost 10 years ago before traveling became “trendy”. We caught the travel bug and wanted to explore the world. After visiting Spain for our honeymoon, we promised each other that we would keep traveling and exploring. When we had Chloe, we didn’t want having a child to change our lifestyle, so we kept traveling. We chose to travel with her more often than without, and that’s why I want to share why we chose to travel with our kids.
I know we have amazing parents that would gladly help us watch our babies. In fact, they just did when we went on a wonderful Mexican getaway back in May and we have weekend trip coming up in September plus a big trip in January. But the thing is, we have lots of reasons for wanting to travel WITH our kids most of the time that I want to share with you.
We like our kids and want to spend time with them.
I’m not at all suggesting that people who travel without their children don’t like their kids at all. I’m just saying that we like ours to be with us on these adventures. When we travel without our kids, we feel like we’re constantly talking about what we could do if they were there. On the flip side, when we have them, there are definitely other things we wish we could do without. The grass is always greener right? But seriously, we like our kids and want them with us.
We want to create memories as a family even if they won’t remember them yet.
Everyone tells me that the kids won’t remember all of these trips she’s taken. They’re absolutely right, but guess what? JP and I will remember and cherish them forever. We’ll have the pictures and the stories to tell them when their older, and hopefully give them some wanderlust so that they’ll want to explore and travel the world.
We don’t want to let having children stop us from doing the things we love.
Before we got pregnant, we said that we wanted to make sure that having a child wouldn’t keep us from doing things we loved. (Trust me, we knew big change were heading our way.) There were a few things we were worried about: traveling the world, Aggie football game weekends, spending time with our friends and working out/staying healthy. Most of those were completely doable, but the travel one was big for us.
Chloe started traveling at 4 months old (to Disney World) and went on her first overseas journey at just 15 months old. Brody traveled to Chicago at just 3 months old and is just shy of 1 year old on this trip. Needless to say, we haven’t let having kids stop us one bit.
There is something incredibly special about watching you kids do or see something for the first time.
Everything they see and do comes with so much wonder and amazement. The things they will see when traveling will make you look at everything in a different light.
There is no better way to teach about the world than showing them.
I realize that my children are young and I don’t think that they’ll truly remember this, but they can learn so much. When I show Chloe pictures of the places she’s been, she’ll make comments about things she remembers. I didn’t think she would remember a thing, but sometimes she does!
We can pick and choose what trips we want out parents to babysit.
Not every trip is meant to be one with kids. Trust me, we know that we need our alone time and value it dearly. We’d rather travel with them most of the time and have our family to help us when we want to go on couples or solo trips.
It helps us to slow down and take everything in while traveling.
There is something to be said about seeing things through a child’s eyes. To see the WORLD through a child’s eye can be magical. We stop for so many things that we wouldn’t if we were to travel without them. In London, I literally stopped to smell the flowers while walking through Hyde and Kensington Parks. You also go places and do things that you would NEVER do without your children. In Norway, we took Chloe to Lilleputhammer, a children’s theme park in Lillehammer! Traveling with your kids just gives you a different perspective.
All in all
We understand that not everyone wants to travel with their kids and that’s understandable. I just want those that are scared to or worried about traveling with their children to know that it’s possible. Children are sponges and they’ll soak up and learn so much along the way. You’ll learn a lot too! I’m not saying that traveling with kids doesn’t come without its challenges. I just believe that the benefits, memories and joy outweigh the meltdowns, challenges and frustration. We’ve personally experienced more of the highs than lows when traveling with our kids.
Now this trip we’re currently on is our first big trip with two little ones! We’ve only flown as a family of four once before this, so I’ll be sure to come back and let you know if anyone my feelings change. In fact, as this post goes live, we’ll be in Manchester starting to explore for a day before taking a train to Scotland! Stay tuned via @amysbalancingact on Instagram or Facebook and I’ll be sure to post a travel update here some point along the way!
Were you nervous about traveling with a 4 month old without all of his vaccines? That would be my biggest worry about traveling with a newborn.
No, I would have been worried before the 2 month mark! Once the 2 month vaccines are administered, I feel so much better about taking my babies out including traveling. I just try to be careful and not let strangers touch or get too close!
This is so encouraging! My daughter just turned one and I want to travel again. You brought up such great points especially about how we’ll have the memories even if they don’t.
You can do it! We truly love traveling with our kids. It’s definitely a different experience and there are a few moments that you question your own sanity, but it’s worth it. At least I think so because we keep on doing it even now with two!
I think traveling is the best way to teach kids about the world and different cultures. I take my kids (almost) very time I travel so that they can see new places and people.
I completely agree Toni-Ann! It teaches them so much about the world and I want them to be knowledgeable, cultured and open minded individuals. Hopefully I’m doing it right!
I totally agree with you! So far we have taken the kids to Ethiopia to and the Bahamas! We want to keep going before our youngest turns . Itll get really pricey lol
Ethiopia?! That is so neat. I would love to visit Africa one day. We haven’t had the chance to go yet, but it’s on my bucket list. It definitely gets more pricey once the little ones don’t fly free. I have one more year of free flying with my youngest!
I will have my sister read this so they can still travel. Very helpful and interesting!
Yes, please share with her! Traveling is completely possible with kids. You have to set different expectations, but it’s worth it!
Aww I love this so much! My parents made a point to take us with them on their trips to Europe and without that, we never would have been able to go!
That is amazing! We didn’t go to Europe as kids but we traveled all over the US. I loved that my parents wanted us to explore and see new things!
I would love to travel with my kids.
Especially when they are old enough to remember the places they visit.
Yes definitely! My daughter is starting to get to that age and it’s so magical!
We think the same! I love traveling with my children and cannot wait to show them the world.
Yay! I love when I find other couples that have the same views as we do on travel! Don’t get me wrong, we still go on trips by ourselves, but we love taking our kids!
I haven’t really had the chance yet to travel much in my adult life. I can’t wait for the day that I’ll have the funds to be able to travel more. I do love seeing my son experience something for the first time!
I know that he’ll absolutely love traveling with you and he’ll appreciate it so much when you get the chance!