It probably comes as no surprise to you that I am a big believer that families should travel together and that you should travel with your kids. In fact, the whole reason I started Points With a Crew back in January 2014 was to show families (especially larger families) that it was possible to travel through credit card points and airline miles. I hoped that some of our family’s travels could serve as an example to other families. I thought I’d take a few moments to share 5 of my top reasons why you should travel with your kids, even if you think they won’t remember.
Why should you travel with your kids?
One great reason to travel with your kids are that traveling with your kids can teach them to be more patient as well as opening their minds to other cultures. Kids are inherently selfish and tend to think about themselves primarily. But when you travel and get out of your “bubble”, you’re able to show your kids that there are other types of people and cultures out there. Some of the travels that we’ve had have truly been experiences that the kids still talk about, even years later.
How traveling can teach your kids important life skills
One great reason to travel with your kids is that they can learn important life skills. We usually take the opportunity when traveling to let our kids help navigate. Whenever I am traveling with one of my kids in an airport, I try to have them take the lead on things like figuring out where to go, how to navigate through the airport and reading boarding passes and such. Traveling also exposes your whole family to unique and novel situations, so you’re able to learn how to adapt to situations that might not otherwise come up.
Last summer when we were traveling in Barcelona, my son got on a subway car that took off without the rest of our family. But what could have been a terrifying and horrible situation turned out not to really be a big deal. We actually had already talked to the kids about what to do if we ever were to get separated as a family while traveling on a subway. So my son knew to get off at the next stop and we met up with him a few minutes later.
Why should you travel with your kids during the school year?
There are a variety of opinions on whether it is ok to miss school for vacation. Like most things, the actual answer will be very dependent on your family’s specific situation. I’m a pretty strong believer that traveling with your kids during the school year is not a big deal, but I recognize that it’s not quite as cut-and-dry for some families. Depending on how old your kids are, and the laws in the state where you live, you may have some restrictions.
We’ve been pretty fortunate both to live in a state and school district that is fairly lenient as well as homeschool several of our kids. Both of those factors mean that it’s been easier for us to travel with kids during the school year than it might be for other families.
Some of the best reasons why you should travel with your kids during the school year are smaller crowds as well as cheaper prices if you’re able to hit the popular destinations while everyone else is in school. We’ve had some of our best family trips during the school year.
It’s hard to beat going to Universal Orlando in November or February when the weather is perfect and there aren’t very many people there. We walked right into Ollivander’s wand shop in Diagon Alley and because most of the people there were from our family, my daughter was “chosen” by her wand.
How can traveling be educational for your kids?
Along the same lines of whether you should travel during the school year is the thoughts on how traveling can be educational for kids. Especially for younger kids, the adventures and things that kids will learn while traveling are way more than whatever they might learn in school.
What better way to learn about Ancient Greece than actually VISITING ANCIENT GREECE?
Being able to see the sites and learn about history and geography in person is way more impactful than just reading it out of a textbook
Best ways to travel with your kids
Of course there is no one single “best” way to travel with your kids, but I hope that this article has given you some inspiration on how to travel with your kids, even if you don’t think that it’s something that they’ll remember. And if you are traveling on an airplane, make sure to check out our 11 tips to survive a flight with kids. Our family has traveled by planes, trains and automobile and had a great time no matter how we go
My family playing cards on an Amtrak train in the lounge car.
What are your best reasons why you should travel with your kids? Leave them in the comments!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Hi,
I share the same thoughts and have traveled with our two children to over 20 countries around the world. We have loved and enjoyed the experience. Not only children’s perspective widen, they get to see the world.