Why We Travel With Our Kids

Make core memories. Those words have become part of my parental mantra. It is my goal as a mom to create as many core memories as I can with my children, to connect with them in ways that when they look back on their childhoods, they will be filled with emotional memories that warm their hearts and encourage them to create similar experiences with their own families and friends.

When I reflect on my childhood, I have many core memories that make up my life’s highlight reel; playing in the snow with my mom, teaching my sister to ride a bicycle, going to the hospital to meet my newborn brother, my dad giving me my first piece of jewelry for Valentine’s Day, having picnics with my grandmother on her living room floor, spending time in my grandfather’s garage as he worked on his old Ford truck, feeding the ducks at the pond behind my grandparents’ house, making homemade ravioli and pizzelles with my great-grandmother. Almost all of these experiences may seem like normal, mundane activities to an adult, but to me, as a child, they were priceless treasures that I now hold dear to my heart.

Growing up, my family didn’t have a lot of money for “extras.” Because of this, vacations were extremely special for our family. Most of our trips consisted of camping at nearby sites, with a few beach vacations sprinkled in. While we may not have traveled to exotic destinations, the connections and memories we made are invaluable. I still look back at those trips and remember the fun we had as a family. Those trips inspired me to create similar memories with my own children.

When my husband and I got married, we spent a great deal of time dreaming of our family. As parents, we knew we wanted to give our children everything, but we agreed the most valuable thing we could give them were memorable experiences that would build a strong familial bond, and hopefully create an amazing core memory highlight reel for them to carry throughout their lives.

Before we knew it, our family was growing. Our son Roman was born in 2011 and our daughter Serafina followed in 2013. We spent time connecting as a family and stuck to mostly staycation activities for the first few years of parenthood. But in 2014, we decided it was time to start traveling as a family and began planning our first family vacation.

The big trip occurred in June 2014 when our son was three years old and our daughter was 15 months. We traveled to Clearwater Beach in Florida and stayed at my in-laws’ condo, with a short jump over to Disney World for two days.

I remember being so anxious about traveling with our young children. I was worried about flying on an airplane with them. Would they cry and throw tantrums on a plane full of people? How was I going to keep them occupied? I struggled with how the change in their routine and schedule would affect them. Would we even be able to enjoy the trip? Were we wasting money on something that I knew they would never remember? Looking back, all of these concerns were completely valid and normal. However, I am so glad I didn’t let them deter me from going on our first family vacation.

We had the best time on that trip. We played at the beach, swam in the pool, visited the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, ate new delicious food, and visited Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, but most importantly, we bonded in a new way as a family.

Do my kids remember any of it? Absolutely not. But I do. I remember their excitement seeing an airplane in real life and getting to fly on it. I remember their shouts of glee when the waves crashed on their legs the first time. I remember their amazement as a puffer fish swam past us in the water. I remember the excitement of seeing Winter the Dolphin swim in her tank. (Winter is the dolphin that inspired the movie, Dolphin Tale.) I remember the pure joy they experienced when they met Mickey Mouse. I remember their squeals of delight as we rode Dumbo the Flying Elephant. I remember all of it. Which is why we travel with our kids. We are helping them create their own memories, but we are also creating memories as parents that we will cherish forever.

Since that first trip, we have traveled quite a bit with our children: New York City (so much so that my kids consider themselves honorary New Yorkers, we even lived there for three weeks in 2022!), The Outer Banks in North Carolina, a ski trip to Breckenridge in Colorado, Atlantis in The Bahamas, Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando, Anna Maria in Florida, LEGOLAND Florida, LEGOLAND New York, Washington DC, and more.

I know the places we have visited are important to our children. They talk about the trips we have taken all the time, laughing and retelling their favorite memories. And to me, that is the most important thing we can do as parents, fill their hearts with memories they will carry forever.

Become part of the family!

Join my email list to be notified when new content is added.