Selecting Travel Destinations With Children In Mind
Feb 28th, 2008 by Jimmy
When traveling with small children, try to keep your child’s likes and dislikes in mind when selecting a destination.
Some children will happily visit “boring old places,” but many will not. Most children, however, might be more willing to sit through the boring spots if they understand that they’ll get to go to “someplace cool” afterwards.
Remember to think through the destinations, too. While an amusement park—with the rides, costumes, food and fun—might sound great, children might disagree when they’re too small to actually ride the rides. How much fun is it to sit in a stroller while the older kids ride the roller coaster, or to wave to Mommy from Daddy’s arms on the shore as her paddle boat passes by?
The reverse is also true; while the younger children will happily explore a petting zoo or pony ride, the older children might spend the entire visit wishing they were anyplace else and hoping that pictures of them feeding a baby goat won’t get back to their classmates.
Some children will be thrilled by a museum, while others will not. The fossilized skeletons and stuffed hunting cats will fascinate some kids and terrify others. Many museums have interactive areas that provide a hands-on learning experience.
National parks and other outdoor attractions attract kids of all ages. The younger ones will appreciate the chance to run around and play, while the older ones might be interested in the science or history of the site.
Keep in mind the attitudes and feelings of children, too. They might say they’re looking forward to visiting a cave, until they realize that “exploring the cavern” actually means “climbing down into this really big really scary dark hole in the ground.” Sensitive children might just cut the exploring short when they see what it involves.
Although I love petting zoo’s and museums, a great place to have a family vacation is at the Grand Caymen Islands. Its a very family oriented destination where you can experience something out of the ordinary. Rather than roller coasters, try scuba diving. There are various things to do for any age.
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nice article.children enjoy places like zoo museums,but they have their own likes and dislikes.
Amazing article, i can only imagine the difficulties of taking a child on holiday with keeping them entertained, keeping them safe when you and Mum want to have some free time and keeping them feeling well with all that Jet lag!
children will like to explore new things and new ideas.many good points are mentioned here to be remembered while traveling with children.thanks.
ur better off leaving them home with a babysitter @_@
That’s why they have these beach resorts near national parks. The resort generally has a playground for children, the adults can relax on the beach and the older kids can go hiking or biking on the park trails.
BTW, this is my first comment here, so I don’t really know how things work around here. If you have any do’s and dont’s…
Children definitely have a short attention span which means you have to be prepared to move on to the next activity fairly quickly.
Agree that parks and outdoor attractions are a good option for kids.
I think child, very-very enthusiast for beach vacation. A great location is Caribbean area and Indonesia Island.
Hi,
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Great point! I find it’s important to get the kids excited about the vacation or else the entire vacation is usually a bust. There is no point going somewhere were the kids don’t want to go. I usually just go somewhere exotic, how could anyone (even stubborn little kids) complain about that! Bon voyage!
I really enjoyed this article because I think there is not enough material out there regarding travel friendly places for children other than Disney World! I think that instilling in children an appreciation of different cultures at a young age can last a lifetime.
Great post. I have a daughter, we usually visit places in Indonesia. Sometime she looks upset of the activity we done. It because we go to places that I like not she likes. thanks for the post.
It is not easy to travel with children. I prefer go traveling when they are a little bit older.
Without doubt, parks are the best places for kids. Besides being able to roam freely, within reason, big parks offer so many sights and sounds that will keep the kids occupied.
My kids just hate any trip that involves a museum. lol As long as we focus on what a kid would want to do, they usually end up happy.
:O)
My children prefer beach vacations to anything else… I guess that gets my vote as well…