039 Parent-Approved Ways to Teach Life Skills Through Travel

Family travel provides a perfect platform for teaching our children about patience, adaptability, curiosity, independence, creativity, the importance of family relationships, passion for learning, and so much more. Today Stephanie Graves joins Lisa and they share stories and lessons their families have learned through many of their family travels. As we focus on these lessons we can teach our children through travel, our intention and focus will increase and we will be able to guide our children to learn many valuable lessons.

What types of lessons have you seen your kids learn while traveling? Hit reply in the comments and let me know!

iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Play | Podbean

“Each family trip helps us learn new lessons.”

— Stephanie Graves

Show Notes

Here is a list of the life lessons Stephanie and Lisa talk about in this podcast episode. We pulled information from this blog post on Stephanie’s site.

Exposing kids to new cultures: New cultures can be close to home. Don’t overlook cultural festivals, new types of food, and quick weekend getaways.

Learning firsthand: Seeing a venus flytrap or visiting Williamsburg, VA will give kids an up-close look at things firsthand instead of just in a book or on T.V.

Deepen family relationships: Spending quality time together is a great way to strengthen family bonds. Getting away from daily distractions increases opportunities to enjoy relaxed time together.

Push outside of comfort zones: Travel provides great opportunities to try new things: new food, new places, new activities.

Gain independence: Kids can start small by learning to pack for themselves and grow into helping to plan a trip and navigate around a new city.

Become adaptable: Things never go quite as planned and parents have the opportunity to model staying calm and being creative to problem solve.

How to behave in public: There are so many opportunities to be in public while traveling. Kids learn to follow their parents’ lead in how to act while out and about.

Building patience: There can be a lot of waiting, long car drives and delayed flights. It’s good for kids to have some downtime and learn to fill that time in a meaningful way.

Make new friends: Kids can gain confidence in talking to new people and have opportunities to meet others while visiting parks and museums.

Digital detox: Travel gives us a space to move away from our normal digital influence since we are busy exploring and doing new things.

Express themselves: Kids learn how to share feeling about being frustrated, tired and uncertain about new things.

Building parent relationships: Date night for parents! Parents can put the kids to bed early and spend quality time together. If traveling with grandparents, they may even get out for a walk or dinner.

One on one time with parent/child: Show your children how much you want to be with them by planning one on one activities together.

Fun stress can be good: It’s all about how you look at things and crazy things that happen result in great family stories.

Practice make perfect: Gain confidence by repeating travel tasks such as packing, going through security, and trying new food.

This episode’s sponsor is our This Travel Tribe Amazon Essentials Shop. Stop by and see what you may want to add to your suitcase next time you travel.

Connect with Stephanie!

Destination Graves Website

Destination Graves on Instagram

If you loved this episode the podcast, please consider supporting it…