What can travel teach you?
One of the joys of home learning is that you can travel without the burden of a traditional school schedule on your shoulders. Visit national monuments in May? Why not? Head south of the Equator in January? Certainly!
Travel is also a teacher. Through travel, children experience new places and cultures. They learn the importance of scheduling – not missing trains. They learn the importance of enjoying the moment – the opportunity to try a new food that you might never encounter again.
But let’s crib off Seligman and Peterson’s Character Strengths and Virtues for a moment, though, shall we? These two compiled a list of 24 character traits supported by many world religions and cultures, and travel provides an opportunity to cultivate a number of these traits in a deeper way.
Bravery. Travel is a leap into a new culture, new climate, new schedule. It requires planning, yes, but it also requires bravery, especially when you’re moving outside your own culture and into one that is new to you. Add a language barrier, and you’re all set to challenge your ability to boldly deal with new situations.
Humor. When your planning fails you and bravery isn’t far behind, that’s when a sense of humor comes in. Anyone who’s traveled extensively can tell you that a sense of humor is one of the most important things to bring along. Mistakes happen, and it’s good to laugh about them.
Social intelligence. Travel is the ultimate exercise in social intelligence, since you’re navigating between cultures as well as between people. It requires careful social observation and an ability to make new friends.
Travel has certainly cultivated my own sense of bravery, humor, and social intelligence. I recall a time in my young adulthood when I was stuck in a harbor in a country where I spoke only a little of the national language and none of the local dialect. I had nowhere to sleep for the night. I’d missed the last boat, the one I was supposed to catch to go home. Or at least I’d missed the last tourist boat. But at 12:30 am, I found myself on a somewhat ancient boat slowly making its way across the ocean with a friendly nun as my bunk mate. Thankfully, I got to sleep off the night’s journey at her convent the next day, and corresponded with her for several years after that. If I hadn’t been a little brave, with a good sense of humor and the ability to chat up my fellow stranded passengers, I suspect I would have gone stomping off with my VISA card to the nearest tourist hotel, my life less rich than it could have been.
Does your family travel? How have you seen it influence the character of your children?
Image credit: Thard1648