“Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken.” – Frank Herbert

Over the summer I was studying and going back to school. It is against every fiber of my being to learn during these beautiful sunny days, as I am such a summer lover. Doesn’t it seem crazy to be cooped up inside when I could be swimming with my boys? But, alas I had to continue some of my education in order to meet some of my work aspirations, and so I found myself taking a class about emotional intelligence. As a reader of this travel blog, you may be wondering why I am choosing to write about this topic to you readers. I could not help myself. I found myself thinking so much about travel, while learning in class, that I knew the information could be the basis for a terrific article. Specifically, my thoughts wondered how travel can foster so much growth for all ages in both Emotional and Cognitive Intelligence.

I think the biggest standout I took away from the entire class is how the lessons supported all of our beliefs on how we teach our boys. If you have been a long time reader of this blog, you know that my husband and I take our children everywhere and absolutely love nothing more than traveling as a family. We hear a lot of advice that we should not spend the money or that taking such young children on vacation is pointless because they will never remember the trip.

This is counter intuitive advice according to the way the brain learns. The human brain makes the strongest connections (connections that tend to last the longest) when a person experiences something firsthand. So for example, when we take our children to a farm and they get to milk a cow and hear it moo and see that cow has a baby calf, in turn they are making vital brain connections that are longer lasting than the ones that were made when we showed them a picture of a cow and practiced saying moo. Sure, they may never remember where or when they saw a cow in a few months, but they will have more connection to animals when they learn about them in school and certainly more basis for vocabulary concerning animals because of this real and hands on experience.

On our most recent trip to Hawaii we knew taking the kids would be a massive amount of work…and luggage. We heard how crazy and brave we were to take them from everyone. Deep down we knew we were a little crazy too, but we wanted to mainly see if we COULD actually do it. By doing a long family vacation together we learned so much more about ourselves as parents. The boys learned a lot too.

My youngest son, Lan-Shark (1) learned new words, that he loved to dance and hula, and that he could really dig the sand (both literally and figuratively). My oldest son, Bug (3) learned to hold his breath and swim underwater, he learned up close and personal what sea turtles look like in their natural environment, and that he could safely try new things with his parents guidance without being too afraid (things like sliding down slides and seeing a dinosaur exhibit).

I realized upon returning home at the end of almost three weeks, that for my husband, this was the longest stretch of time he had ever been with the boys without having to work (a priceless souvenir). When we left Hawaii, all four of us left with so many new things learned and so many connections made that would have never been possible in our busy lives at home. It was worth every bit of planning…and luggage, that it took to take two kids under three all the way across the country and the ocean.

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