Originally Posted by
3furballs
Hi folks, looking for some ideas on travel for me and my daughter. She's about to be three and I would like to start exposing her to different cultures through travel. I was thinking of starting with a visit to Scotland to meet my host family from when I studied abroad. I'd love to do something like visiting my college roommate in Ghana but hubby would not be ok with that as a first trip. I'm looking for ideas on where to go, what to do, how to expose her to cultural differences, and who to talk to when I'm there to find things like parks where she might meet other children. Need for flights to be good value and reasonable priced safe accommodations to be available. Would like to go somewhere I could easily survive without a car seat or stroller so I'm not lugging them around but could do one or the other. I'm open to going almost anywhere. TIA!
You don't have to fly to start exposing your child to different cultures, especially if you live in a good sized city. Museums have classes for kids, libraries have programs, ethnic neighborhoods have festivals, etc. and all of those can be done with minimal cost or travel.
And exactly how much of a cultural nuance are you expecting a 3 yo to notice? If you want to travel for the sake going somewhere, that's fine, but expecting your child to pick up a whole lot isn't realistic. At that age their perception of normal isn't fine-tuned yet, so most kids (unless they have sensory difficulties) are pretty adaptable and just accept what is around them.
I'm all for traveling with kids - mine has had a passport since he 4 months old - but I think it's important to realistic expectations for what a kid will get out of the experience. My kid was almost 3 when he made his first trip to Europe. The highlight of the trip for him, the thing he talked about for months afterward, was petting the street cats in Amsterdam.