Despite the difficulties, there are so many reasons to travel with kids. As a parent who is new to family travel or family vacations, it can seem intimidating to travel with the whole family, but the many benefits of travelling with family far outweigh the challenges, in my opinion.

When you're young and single, travel is a breeze. It's relatively easy to splurge on a few hundred dollars for plane tickets and jet off to some exotic destination for the weekend. Packing is simple too, you've got it down to a science, and there's no need to bother with checking a bag, because everything you need can easily fit into your carry on. Every destination is exciting and new, and you want to pack in as many activities as you can so as not to miss a single minute.

And then you get older. You find a life partner who enjoys new things and new experiences together and you have kids. You want to keep traveling, but it gets more complicated when you have children. Things cost more, schedules are less flexible, you have to carry more things with you. You may even wonder if it's even worth it to travel with kids.

This article was originally published on January 28, 2015.

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My top 5 books showcasing the benefits of travelling with family

Travel changes with kids

As much as we don't want to admit it, the travel experience changes drastically once kids come into the picture. Travel becomes a lot more complicated. There are double the number of tickets to buy. There are diaper bags and snack bags to think about. And there are nap schedules to work around.

Suddenly, jet-setting on a spontaneous weekend trip sounds more like a chore than a relaxing opportunity for quality family time. It's hard to see the benefits of travelling with family.

The trips become less frequent, the experiences less adventurous. You may even decide you're better off not traveling until the kids are out of the house. For families with young kids, the reasons to travel are far outweighed by the reasons NOT to travel.

Remembering the benefits of travelling with family

Before this happens to you, I want to say, "Stop!" Parenthood doesn't have to mean an end to travel. There are still many good reasons to travel with kids. 

Just because travel time together becomes exponentially more challenging than it was when we were carefree young adults, doesn't mean that travel is not feasible. Despite the complications, there are five excellent benefits of travelling with family. Keeping these reasons and benefits in mind can help motivate you to make travel happen for your family, and center your focus on making memories together as a family.

1. Family bonding

Some parents opt to take vacations without their kids, and I think that's okay, especially for parents' mental health! But you miss out on a lot of family bonding time that way. One of the reasons to travel with kids is that it gives you a chance to connect with them.

In 2010, our family took a road trip from Washington, DC to Seattle, WA by way of the Southern states. My step-son was 13 years old at the time, and my daughter was only 3 months old. Conventional wisdom would warn us that this is a bad combination.

A teenager AND a baby stuck in the same car for hours at a time. The very thought conjures up images of crying babies, sullen mood swings, and whines of "are we there yet?!?". But we had a blast. The kids had a great time hanging out together, and we even got to visit some fun places like Disney World and Las Vegas.

2. Travel is educational

There is so much history and culture to be had in travel. As a family, we've traveled to places like Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia to learn about how life was like in the colonies. We've also visited Balinese temples in Indonesia, Hindu shrines in Singapore, and old Catholic churches in the Philippines.

If you're unsure of how to make your travels more learning focused, joining a worldschooling hub or a worldschooling community is a great way to jump in without doing a lot of planning on your end. Many of these hubs and communities have a dedicated program that's focused on cultural immersion or enrichment.

Here are some of our favorite worldschooling communities:

• Deliberate Detour Worldschooling Hub
• Worldschooling Pop Up Hub
• Anahata Worldschooling Community

3. Travel connects our kids to the world

Our first overseas trip as a family was to Southeast Asia. My husband, who is half Filipino, was amazed by our trip to the Philippines. But the biggest surprise came from our eldest, my step-son who was 15 at the time.

Normally non-chalant and ambivalent about most of our family activities, he was completely enamored by everything he saw during our travels. He especially enjoyed visiting some of the smaller villages on the island of Luzon.

Being in a developing country for the first time really opened his eyes to how people in other parts of the world live. Many of them live in conditions much more humble than what he had back home. This is one of the benefits of travelling with family when you have teens. You get to expose your teens to experiences that help them gain new perspectives.

4. Kids help break down barriers

Whether traveling to a nearby city, or going across the world to another country, one of the benefits of travelling with family is that it helps break down cultural barriers. The presence of kids sometimes help bring people's guards down, and opens the door to connections with other cultures.

On a trip to New York City in 2014, we decided not to rent a car, and opted instead to take the subway. My youngest son, who was only eleven months old at the time, was not yet walking. So I carried him around in a baby carrier most of the time.

This proved to be a perfect way to engage in conversation with people, especially when crammed like sardines in the subway. I thought people would get annoyed by having a baby around. But there was something about his cute and curious stares that would melt people's hearts.

5. Kids bring a different perspective to travel

Another one of the benefits of travelling with family is being able to see the world through your child's eyes. Kids bring a different perspective to travel, and it's good to see their perspective from time to time.

When my husband, daughter, and I visited a friend of mine in Paraguay in 2013, we were definitely in for some unconventional travel. We stayed for a week at a farm, surrounded by various animals and fields.

Being a city person, I can only take so much of nature and the outdoors, but my daughter was in absolute heaven. She spent most of the days running around barefooted on the grass, chasing chickens and playing with the cats on the farm. Her absolute enjoyment of the experience helped me to find enjoyment as well.

Finding more reasons to travel

No matter how you look at it, travel with kids can be an enriching and engaging experience for you and your family. Sure there are plenty of challenges, and I'm sure I can come up with a list of why you shouldn't travel with kids, but it wouldn't match up to these benefits of travelling with family.

To me, it's a no-brainer. I would happily take my kids along with me on the next adventure, even if it means enduring multiple pit-stops, sleepless nights, tight budgets, and unplanned mishaps. In the end, travel is not about the destination. But rather, it's about experiencing the world with the ones you love.

So what's keeping you from jumping onboard with family travel? Like I've mentioned already, the benefits of travelling with family are plentiful. Go ahead and do it!

Itching to travel full time with your kids? Use my ebook, Hey Kids, Let’s Go Travel! as a resource for tools, advice, and action steps for planning your trip.

Need help thinking through how to budget for a family trip? My Travel Budget Worksheet is just the tool you need! Click here to receive your free copy by signing up for my newsletter.

Want to connect with me on social media? Find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. And for those of you who are dedicated to traveling more responsibly, sustainably, and ethically, join over 450 like-minded families on my Facebook group, Responsible Family Travel.

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