I pooped my pants at school 💩.
That is the earliest memory that I can (and will always) remember 😩.
Here’s the full story: I was in first grade going to school in Mexico. Towards the end of school that day all the kids in class got to play until our parents showed up to pick us up. I was playing with my friends when all of a sudden, I just pooped myself. I felt incredibly embarrassed, and hid under a table until my parents picked me up and took me home.
Frankly, I have no clue why or how that is the first memory that I still remember. Maybe it’s because I’m a people-pleaser and I was terrified knowing that people were going to be disappointed in me if they found out I had an accident. Turns out, a couple other early memories are also embarrassing ones, but I think I’ll keep those to myself for now!
Anyway, as we share the news of our full-time travel adventure plans with friends and family, one of the most common criticisms that we receive is:
“Why would you travel with your kids when they won’t remember it? It seems like a waste of time.”
When we take off on our adventure, Santi will be 5 ½ and Nora will be 2 ½ years old. While I agree that the kids (especially Nora) won’t have long-term memories of our travels, there are plenty of positive aspects that ultimately make it worth it for us! And who knows, there may be embarrassing moments throughout our adventures that our kids actually WILL remember… 😜
Forming healthy habits from our adventures
Multiple research studies have shown that children start forming patterns of behavior and learn habits very early in their lives. Although our kids may not remember the details of our trips, there are valuable intangible lessons, behaviors, and patterns that we hope they adopt throughout our adventure.
The first of these is flexibility. We plan to make our travels seem as routine as possible for our children. However, it is clear that they will be living very different lives as compared to a traditional lifestyle. By being in different countries, cultures, and environments, they will have to adapt to their surroundings. They’ll have to learn to function in potentially unpredictable situations. In time, we believe this will strengthen their resiliency and allow them to solve tough problems using the resources at their disposal.
The second habit we’d be thrilled if they formed is that of cultural sensitivity. Our children will have the benefit of constantly being immersed in new languages and cultures. We hope that over time they’ll be able to identify similarities and differences within cultures. We’d be thrilled if they learned to appreciate the value of tradition, custom, and respect for all cultures.
Finally, the last trait we want to instill in our kids during our travels is intellectual curiosity. Instead of sitting in a classroom all day learning about math, science, literature, geography and social sciences, our kids will be in a unique situation to be immersed in real-life lessons. For example, Santi is currently learning the different types of US currency this year. It wouldn’t be a stretch to introduce the subject of currency conversion as we’re traveling from country to country.
In terms of science, we will be experiencing multiple examples of natural phenomena that could be explained more efficiently if he was standing in front of it. We hope that this combination of real-world experience as well as educational resources found on the Internet can instill a sense of curiosity. We plan on nurturing that curiosity as much as we possibly can!
Redefining the “Home Video”
As I’ve gotten older, I have started to relish and value old pictures and videos that my parents took of my siblings and I when we were little. I don’t remember many of those situations in which the pictures or videos were taken. I’m thankful that my parents have been able to fill in the gaps for me and allow me to form pseudo-memories based on their stories.
One of the benefits of chronicling our adventures on Instagram and YouTube is that our photo and video content will be saved for years (and hopefully lifetimes). Even if our kids don’t remember a particular experience, they will have access to a library of multimedia content that will remind them that at one point in their lives, they were world travelers and experienced a travel journalist and digital nomad lifestyle!
Ultimately, we accept that our kids might not have concrete memories of these upcoming travel years. However, with an archive of YouTube and Instagram media and newfound positive habits, we believe that it will absolutely be worth it! If you can think of other benefits of traveling with young children, we’d be happy to hear about them in the comments section below!
