Where Are You Going?

We're well into the summer travel season that finds many families vacationing. Key in the process of planning a vacation that involves any travel is determining the method with which one travels and the route that best leads to the intended destination. In most situations where children are a part of the retinue, they are asked to merely hop into whatever conveyance has been selected and, with full trust invested in their parent(s), ride along until everyone gets “there”.

At the same time, travel poses a great learning opportunity for children that can help them navigate in a very real way in this complicated world in which we live. Think of the universe from their perspective as a series of circles, one inside the other. Beginning with the smallest, these circles locate them in their homes, then expand outward to include their immediate neighborhoods, their communities and schools, the cities in which they live, their states, nations, continents, planet and so on. An exciting task for parents is to help their children to first know where they are and then to teach them how to expand their horizons.

This can begin as soon as children can speak in brief but complete sentences. Help them very quickly to learn their full name, their parent’s full name(s), their address and their phone number. The next step should include a tour of the immediate vicinity in which children are most likely to play. Teaching them to read street signs and identify landmarks, then test them along the way – for instance, you can take a walk with them starting off with their eyes closed, then occasionally stop and ask them to look around and try figure out the way home. Celebrate each time they successfully navigate the journey. This will reinforce their belief in themselves and their abilities.

The next time you take a vacation involving travel by car, ask older children (8 and up) to plan the route between stops for that day and then to be responsible for seeing the plan through to the finish. As they become older, enlist their assistance in developing the itinerary and route for the entire vacation. Once in a new city, teach them how to use available forms of public transportation such as commuter trains, buses and subway, and put them in charge of getting everyone to the next stop.

These may seem like relatively mundane goals, but in doing so, you are helping children to become centered and providing them with a sense of security that will become portable. Imagine the confidence that they will have in knowing that wherever they are, they possess the ability to plan and travel to a desired endpoint.

In a real way, you will also help children develop a clearer sense of who they are as you explore various aspects of the community and people that encompass their immediate world. You are also developing what will hopefully become a lifelong trust relationship with children.

The more often you provide children with reliable and accurate information about seemingly small things, the more likely they will look to you for guidance on some of the larger issues that they will be facing in life. Lastly, by opening up the world at large to them, you give them the opportunity to dream about their own future and where in the world they might be spending the rest of their lives.

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