Should You Travel With Kids? What Science Says

Sometimes it feels like traveling with kids is nothing but exhaustion, extra luggage, and no real benefit, especially if your child is still little. It’s easy to think that they won’t remember much anyway, they’ll get tired, and your vacation will turn into a marathon.

But even a short trip can make a big difference in how a child sees the world, thinks, feels, and behaves.

Here’s how travel helps kids grow.

New Environments Build Flexibility and Empathy

When your child enters an unfamiliar environment, their brain starts actively adapting: listening closely, noticing new details, and comparing them to what they already know.

Even if it’s just another city or region, your child learns that people can look, speak, and act differently, and that’s completely normal.

Research shows that kids who are exposed to new cultures or languages develop flexible thinking, empathy, and openness to new experiences. These qualities help them better understand themselves and others—in friendships, school, and life in general.

Travel Helps Kids Handle Change

Even a short trip is always a break from routine. Different food, unusual beds, unfamiliar speech, long hours on the road—all of this can make a child feel uneasy. But it’s exactly this kind of experience that teaches them to adapt, notice their feelings, and work through them.

Studies show that at first, children may feel anxious, withdrawn, or even more irritable while traveling. But with your support and a bit of time, they go through the adaptation process, and become more resilient, confident, and flexible in new situations.

Traveling Together Strengthens Bonds and a Sense of Value

Travel is a rare chance to just be together without work, school, or chores. Kids feel needed, seen, and heard. This creates a sense of support and safety, which in turn helps them grow, learn, and try new things.

Even very young children, who aren’t always taken on trips, benefit from this kind of connection.

Research shows that parental attention and emotional well-being are key to developing speech, thinking skills, and social abilities.

New Places Give the Brain and Body a Break

Urban environments aren’t always kid-friendly: constant noise, polluted air, busy schedules, and sensory overload. All of this affects well-being, focus, and even cognitive abilities. A trip offers a chance to be in a calmer setting with a different nature and a chance to exhale.

Studies show that even a short stay in a cleaner, quieter place improves attention, memory, and overall mood. This could be a small cozy town, a cabin, the mountains, or even a leafy park in a new city.

Even if your child doesn’t remember every detail, the experience itself matters. New impressions, and having loved ones close stays with them, long after the suitcases are unpacked and back in the closet.

References:

• Psychological impact of expatriation experiences on child and adolescent mental health: a narrative synthesis, Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research, 2025
• Stability of and Change in Psychopathological Risk Levels in Pre-Early Adolescents before, during, and after Their Study Sojourns: A Descriptive Study, European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 2024
• Preparing for the School Readiness of Early Childhood by Enhancing the Well-Being and Family Support, JPUD — Jurnal Pendidikan Usia Dini, 2024
• The Health-Related and Learning Performance Effects of Air Pollution and Other Urban-Related Environmental Factors on School-Age Children and Adolescents — A Scoping Review of Systematic Reviews, Current Environmental Health Reports, 2024