Your Kids Will Never Remember Your Vacations

three girls in front of a travel sign
three girls in front of a travel sign

Your Kids Will Never Remember Your Vacations

I’ll never forget when the lady next to me on the plane said these words to me “your kids will never remember your vacations”. My seatmate felt compelled to make this statement after I told her I was traveling with my three young kids. She continued to voice her opinions on why traveling with kids is “too hard” and “too expensive”. I’ve never forgotten her words and often times they’re what motivates me to continue writing about our adventures.

She Wasn’t Entirely Wrong

The statement she made about my kids “not remembering our vacations”, those words were true. I couldn’t disagree. My youngest doesn’t remember our trip to Turks and Caicos. My oldest only knows of the stories I tell about the time we traveled to visit my family’s old farmland. Our middle daughter can tell you all about the time she got car sick on a road trip to Missouri but she recalls the story not from memory, but from what we’ve told her about the experience.

So her statement was true, yes, but let me be clear, it was not a good reason for not traveling with your kids. Here is why I feel so passionately about that.

why travel is important, standing in the ocean

Memories Over Things

Traveling with our kids has been a passion of mine since we brought our three little girls into the world. It also helps that my kids’ grandparents have been motivated to travel with them too.

The truth is, we could have spent money on a bigger house, a better car or the latest toys, but we chose something different. My goal of seeing the world did not end when I had kids, in fact, that desire only grew with our family.

My kids may not remember all of the trips we took when they were young, but I do. I remember them all…and that my friend is the point.

little girl laying on a pool float in a pool

They are only little once. Their childhood is a fleeting moment in time that’s over in the blink of an eye. My goal as their mom was to soak up every memory and cherish it for the rest of my life. Those times, traveling with them, have been some of the most incredible moments of my life. Yes, they may be moments that they do not remember….but I remember them and so those moments were for me.

We All Have Choices To Make

I believe wholeheartedly that your circumstances do not limit your potential. Attitude and gratitude play a huge role in helping us achieve the things that are important to us. Travel is part of our family but we’ve made the choice to embrace our adventures no matter how big or small they may be.

If our travel budget is low, we take day trips. If our schedule is packed, we plan ahead to take time away. We’ve made the choice to make travel a part of our family life and so we make changes and sacrifices that help to support that.

When our baby was crying on the plane or when we had to stop for the 5th bathroom break in the last hour of a road trip, we reminded ourselves that we were happy to be together and that “this too shall pass”.

We stayed grateful. I believe gratitude is the antidote to so many negative emotions. When you stop and take time to be thankful, your entire view of a situation can change. It’s a powerful tool that we ALL have.

girl standing in front of flight schedule at the airport

Why Travel Is Important

“You never tell people what, you tell them why.”

This has always stuck with me. Travel is the “what”, but it’s the “why” that is so important. The “why” is what the lady on the plane was missing. If I had the chance to go back, I’d politely tell her that we travel with our kids because those are the memories we want to look back on. The memories that will get me through my kids growing up and leaving home. The memories that will keep us close when we come up against really difficult things.

They won’t remember all of our vacations but the “why” is that their memory bank has just started, but mine as their mother, is already half full.

family picture on the beach

READ MORE:

Forbes wrote all about why traveling is good for your health.

How travel changes you and why you should travel more.

Why I regret not bringing my preschooler to Disney World.

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