Travelling is usually a fun endeavour for the whole family, where you get to explore a new country and have new experiences as a clan. However more than just having family bonding time, travel can improve a child’s confidence, develop their social skills, boost their future career success and develop their creative thinking
First-time travellers report that learning about other cultures, picking up new skills (like map-reading or languages), trying different food, and meeting new people all helped improve their confidence. And these experiences had a positive impact on their life back at home. Here’s how kids can benefit from a travel:
1. Learning new skills
Learning new, practical skills helped boost the confidence of children and one of the easiest and most popular ways to do so is via map-reading. Quiet streets with quirky, memorable, landmarks are great for teaching kids how to navigate.
Recommended holiday destinations: Oropesa del Mar in Spain, Ventspils in Latvia, Tirol in Austria, Santa Catarina in Brazil, Zaton in Croatia.
2. Trying different types of cuisines
New food can be intimidating but after little ones manage to overcome that mental obstacle, they realised that trying new food boosted their confidence. Travelling somewhere with lots of different options will help ease fussy palates into new flavours.
Recommended holiday destinations for “culturally diverse food”: Gaziantep in Turkey, Semarang in Indonesia, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Singapore, Paramaribo in Suriname.
3. Discovering another culture
Travel is a great chance to broaden your child’s understanding of the world, through the learning of a new culture, and their language skills will be improved.
Recommended holiday destinations for immersing in a new culture: Medellin in Colombia, Port Vila in Vanuatu, Yangon in Myanmar, Asunción in Paraguay, St. John’s in Canada.
4. Meeting new people
Balancing warnings about stranger danger with helping your child develop their social skills can feel like a never-ending battle. However, meeting new people is cited by family travellers as a major boost to confidence and a family holiday provides a great opportunity for children to meet contemporaries from diverse backgrounds, in a safe environment.
Recommended holiday destinations for meeting new people: Surat Thani Province in Thailand, Cyclades in Greece, Nairobi in Kenya, Beograd in Serbia, Manila in the Philippines.
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