By Jamie Strickland
Last month I wrote about how impactful seeing something for the first time, through your own eyes can be.
This month I’m going to write about something just as powerful, at least for me: Watching your children experience something new and amazing.
As a family, we love to travel and have experiences together and we’ve made that a priority with our budgeting. We took some trips to Disney throughout their early childhood and went to the beach and the mountains, and now that they’re older (and require less work to travel with — no more diapers or carrying the whole house with us — hallelujia!) we’re venturing out a little further and exploring some of our national parks and even some international destinations.
I often hear people give advice to new parents like “Don’t take them to Disney while they’re little, they won’t even remember it.” But they’re neglecting something very important. You will remember it. You will remember the look on your baby’s face when they see Mickey Mouse or Moana for the first time, and their delightful screams on their first roller coaster. Your experience as a parent deserves to be filled with joyful occasions, just as much as they deserve to have those childhood moments.
And even if they don’t consciously remember those days, there are studies that prove that travel and exposure to new experiences are so very healthy and important for a child’s brain development. It creates new pathways in the brain, broadens their perspectives, builds adaptability, encourages curiosity and strengthens your bond as a family. No material gift can have the same effect on your relationship as sharing a new experience can.
You don’t have to go far to share these moments with your kids, either. If Disney isn’t in the budget right now, there are plenty of local places to experience together. North Carolina has one of the best zoos in the country, for example, and we’re less than two hours from it.
I remember when my daughter was about one and a half years old, she was still working on expanding her vocabulary, and for a while, she called every animal a dog. We took her to the zoo, and lifted her out of her stroller to get a better look at the elephants. I will always remember her big blue eyes going wide as she pointed and exclaimed “A dog!” with absolute amazement.
She doesn’t remember that moment, but I certainly do.
My kids are teens now, but still when I go somewhere or see something incredible, if they aren’t with me, I find myself wishing they were, and I look forward to being able to take them there and watch their reaction.
Seeing something you’ve always wanted to see for the first time is amazing, but watching your children have that experience is even better.
