The Challenge of Travelling with Children

Avoiding the frustration of being a parent with a bored child while touring the world’s great cities

The words every parent dreads hearing while strolling the Champs-Elysees with their offspring: “Is there a McDonald’s around here? I’m borrrrred!”

You’ve scrimped and saved for months (maybe years) to bestow on your children something your parents weren’t able to provide for you: a priceless education and exposure to the Art, Architecture and Cuisine of the great cities of Europe. But your kids just want to text their friends and hang out at a shopping mall.

What can parents do to enthuse their young ones regarding this once-in-a-lifetime experience?

“Educate them, educate them, educate them” says Hastings Wolfe, frequent traveler and expert on the psyche of children. “Kids are just like adults - the less they know about something, the less they care about it.”

He cites as examples comic books, sports and YA novels.

“For most young people, when they latch on to something they go full-force. Kids (mainly boys) who are into comic books, for instance, know every detail about every character and their entire backstory. This makes reading about them more enjoyable. Same goes for athletes and sports. As for the girls, they can tell you every minute detail of the love triangle at the core of the latest YA novel.”

Wolfe believes this same strategy can be employed prior to heading off to the family vacation overseas by learning of the culture, history, art, cuisine, etc. that will be experienced while visiting the host country. He also recommends learning some of the language spoken.

“I would say that families traveling to foreign countries make up the bulk of our customers when it comes to the language apps” says Jeffrey Starr, owner of the software company Purple Falcon. The firm produces a language app geared toward children called Banana Cat - Learn a Language! 

“The Banana Cat language app is set up like flash-cards for the iPhone and iPad, but the app has colorful pictures and sound effects that are very appealing to kids. Currently the app allows you to learn 50 words in 8 languages, for a total of 400. The initial language list is French, German, Spanish, English, Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch and Italian. Obviously the number of languages will grow with demand.”

Starr agrees with Wolfe that learning the language will enhance the vacation for the kids.

 “Even though our apps are only teaching the kids 50 words or so in each of the 8 languages, we’ve heard reports about how excited they get. When they are walking the streets of Rome or Paris and come across a word they know in Italian or French, the parents say their eyes just light up.”

Learning the history of the area ahead of time can be a big help as well.

Adults can attest to the fact that it’s easy to suffer from information-overload when touring a history-rich area like Athens or London. Just imagine how overwhelming that could be for a 10-year-old.

But when the parent spoon-feeds historical tidbits in small doses in the months leading up to the trip, the child will have a much better time absorbing the information (and recalling it later).

Wolfe also recommends introducing the young ones to some of the food they may experience on the trip ahead of time. By exposing their immature palates to new flavors in small doses, parents may find that their children are much more receptive to the exciting new dishes they receive in a foreign land.

How often we meet adults who say, “I visited Paris when I was a kid, but I was too young to appreciate it! I wish I could do it again!”

If parents prepare their young ones ahead of time, they can greatly enhance the kids’ vacation experience, no matter what their age.

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Jeffrey Dale Starr is a world traveler, oil painter, and owner of mobile software company Purple Falcon.