WDYT?

loveshine1

How do you feel about bringing small children (younger than 13) on trips to exotic places, like Europe, Asia, etc.?

GBCK

I'm assuming we're talking someplace 'safe'?  where you'er not worried about kids being hurt/killed by falling sherpas/fish that poison you when you pet them/etc?

I think that early multi-cultural exposure is a good thing; although if a kid won't 'get' that much out of it and you can't afford to do it a 2nd time, you save the $ and delay the trip until they will get more out of it.

MinM

I was nine when I first went to Europe and it was OK, aside from the typical bickering with my sister who was a year younger than me.

Personally, I don't know what I would do it myself. I KNOW I don't want to be next to a fiove year old on a trans-Atlantic flight.

loveshine1

Yes, no where crazy. Perfectly safe, just on another continent.

zsazsa-stl

I think it takes a certain personality type to do it and survive, but it is completely doable.  My college bff has two little kids and they all tag along with her husband on his international work trips.  They have hauled those two kids everywhere.  But they are both very laid back, low maintenance kinds of people that aren't easily upset. 

NOLABridesmaid

I think it's a great thing and wish more kids got to do this. Heck, I wish more kids got to see beyond Texas.

I was talking with a lady that never traveled out of Texas. EVER. How sad is that?

baconsmom

I think it depends on the personality and number of kids.

We'd take Bacon somewhere safe, because she loves new things and museums and "doing stuff". And because there's only one of her. Of course, we can't afford it, so it's moot, as I'm sure it is for a lot of parents of young kids. 

I'm sure my parents never even vaguely considered anything more stressful than our Disney World trip with the four of us, and we only did that because we were 12, 9, 7, and 5. IOW: I was considered old enough to corral the younger ones, so we were on a 1:1 ratio. 

zsazsa-stl

Nola, I think I know several people that have never been further than 150 miles from home...and the only reason they went that far was to buy a car or something.  It is sad. 

hmonkey

nola, yes.  there's a scene in "the wire" where one of the characters drives out of baltimore and can't believe there are other radio stations because he's never been out of baltimore.

baconsmom

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_wedding-woes_wdyt-67?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:47Discussion:2a57eaf9-48cc-49d5-995e-f95223758278Post:5d9df689-8c75-4267-a00e-2bbd8d614fe5">Re: WDYT?</a>:
[QUOTE]nola, yes.  there's a scene in "the wire" where one of the characters drives out of baltimore and can't believe there are other radio stations because he's never been out of baltimore.
Posted by hmonkey[/QUOTE]
I heard the writer on NPR talking about this scene! He was in the car with a drug dealing teenager who gave him the world's greatest side-eye when the music faded and Prairie Home Companion came on in its place. 

NOLABridesmaid

BM, it does have a lot to do with finances, but in 18 years parents can't save up enough for 1 real trip. I fail to believe that most parents couldn't do this.

It's all about exposure for these kids. Yes, we do field trips, but they have to see more than their neighborhood. All of these kids have cell phones, that bill alone would pay for a plane ticket by the end of the year.

baconsmom

But what's a "real" trip?

I'm not a fan of traveling. I'm just not. I get anxious and I worry about losing things and I have no real desire to fly anymore. I don't know that I'd plan a big trip unless I had really big bucks to do it with. 

IMO, you can expose your kids to a lot without the actual traveling. It takes some effort and thoughtfulness, but with television and the internet and museums, your kid can get a glimpse of a lot of stuff - without the tourist crowds and the monumental expense of traveling to another country. (Even Canada is a stretch, and Mexico isn't safe.) 

*Barbie*

If we don't have any more kids, and can afford it, I think we would do this with Wolverine. We both love to travel, and didn't do enough of it before starting a family.

I loved my family vacations as a kid, but we generally went to different beaches - I think it would have been awesome to go to overseas. I went to Canada when I was 8 or 9 - not a huge culture change from the US.

Our stumbling block right now is that Wolverine isn't old enough to understand and enjoy the experiences - and there's a lot that you can't do easily with a baby. Although she has traveled more than a lot of kids her age. (to PA at 3.5 months, and about 11 different states in utero) Hell, she had flown more at 4 months than I had in the first 20 years of my life - and i'm not including in-utero travel.  

NOLABridesmaid

I understand that, and agree that you can learn about places in other ways, but there is nothing better than seeing it with you own eyes.

Plus, you don't have to fly to see the US. Rent a camper and drive. I think that many of our kids would be able to dream bigger than what they do now if they could see other places. This might not apply for your daughter, but it applies for so many other kids.

hmonkey

nps.gov =/= actually going to zion, arches, grand canyon. 

my college roommate was from cali and accused me of making up the words "snow flurries" because she had never seen them.

mexico isn't safe?  tell that to the frillion college kids going there for spring break.

tawillers

While it's difficult to have them away, it's an amazing experience for my borther & SIL's 4 kids to be in China.  The oldest is 9, the youngest is just 5 weeks younger than DD.  While she won't remember much, the older 3 kids will have some amazing experiences and memories of living in China for 2 years.

They're in a great school and they've done a lot of traveling and site-seeing while there.  For Chinese New Year, they vacationed in Australia.  How amazing is that?  I'm very happy they're getting these experiences.

6fsn

I know several people that have never left the county let alone the state.  A woman in my mom group was excited to go to the zoo for the first time...not take her kids for the first time.  The first time for HER.

In general it depends on the kid and the family.  I wouldn't put an extravagant vacation above other needs- college fund, school days, etc.

nannewmur

Traveling with kids is  great experience. I did it, but in the US.  I went to Europe when I was 16.  With what is going on right now, I wouldn't do it.  Here is my vote:  If money is not a problem and you have put money aside for college, go for it if you feel safe.  If you have not set up a college account and have to pay for tickets, I say no.  IMHO, college trumps travel and a good college education can open doors!!

DG1

Under 13? Yes. I was 12, I think, when I went to Europe with my grandmother (to visit my aunt, who was a civilian living there and working for the Army).  We took lots of side trips, and it was awesome.

If I had been 7? Probably not. Wouldn't have behaved enough or been able to be even remotely unsupervised.

But then, I know people who took their infants, just because infants are easier to travel with than preschoolers.

So, for the very young or the very old (or a kid like Bacon), yes, i think it's awesome. But there's a lot of in between there that would make me say no.  I mean, I won't even take Dex to a disney movie because I know he couldn't sit through it. There's no way he could handle Europe.  Also, I enjoy things less when I have the kids with me. I mean, I enjoy the kids, but I don't get to enjoy the party or whatever, because I'm always making sure the kids don't destroy something. So it would make *MY* Europe trip not worth the $$, I think.

TheDuckis

I went to Europe for the first time when I was 16, which would have made my sister 10. I imagine taking 5 kids to Europe is never particularly easy, but ages 10-18 is probably as easy as it gets. I absolutely plan to travel with children. If we're still living here they'll be used to cross-country flights, so what's another 7 hours or so? Ha.

Anasara

If we can ever manage to reproduce I plan on strapping my kid to my back & heading out as soon as they have their vaccinations.  I'd love to go back to Niger & visit with the ladies in my old neighborhood.  They know me as a single chick with no kids; a weirdo over there since most women are married in their teens & start having kids pretty much right away.  Going back married with children would be a completely different experience.  Niger is pretty chill; they did have a military coup last year but it really wasn't super scary according to friends.  When I was there in 2004 there was a famine which was scary (rioting over food prices) but I didn't feel unsafe since I was smart enough to stay out of the area of the capital where there were issues with violence.  And obviously we'll be dragging kids to India to visit with ILs (God help me) every so often, which is not an unsafe place but still very different from the US.

AuntFlo

We plan to.   It's another reason why we've decided to only have 1 kid - so we're able to do things like that.

baconsmom

I wouldn't go to Mexico. I wouldn't let my kid go, in college or not. The tourist traps are relatively safe, yes, but is that the point of traveling? Just to see beaches and waiters? 

I agree about seeing America (though the Grand Canyon really is just a giant hole in the ground), and I love road trips. Traveling in America, though, is much different than traveling to another country, which was the original question.