Supporting a Child that wants to Travel

How many of you are faced with the prospect of a young son or daughter that wants to take off for an extended period, perhaps even putting off University for a while? Should you support their decision or try and put an end to the daydreaming?

The easy answer is Yes - support the bold decision in spirit but not financially.

If you're like most of us and come from a family that has to work for its money then there is no better way to teach its value than by working hard towards and achieving a real goal. Getting there will build character, living away form home will as well. And if they make a few mistakes along the way, even better.

When I was a young lad I was lucky enough to have a friend that loved to daydream. Rick Smith was his name and one afternoon while having lunch together he asked me if I'd like to join him on a trip. A trip to Australia (we were in Montreal at the time). Without missing a beat I said Sure!. I won't go into too many details but we worked hard for about 6 months and moved into a bachelor apartment together to save money. We did it. We drove a car across the US and flew from LA to Sydney Australia on what ended up being a 6 month personal awakening odyssey. I'll write a few stories on some of our adventures in future Hubs but this is all to say that sooner or later your child needs to find himself and being very far from friends and family is a great catalyst for that discovery.

As you know teens have trying times, just about all teens. It's all about identity and the search for it, the development of it and the awakening of it. They need to make mistakes, fall down, get heartbroken, and get themselves lost in idealism, questions about life and the future and sometimes a bit of experimentation. Being far from home has a way of accentuating all things ideas/problems and their resolutions (at least some of them). Each problem resolved will stay with them forever. They will grow so much more than if they home for the summer. Of course not every family can afford this but everyone can afford a ride down the interstate at a minimum. Keep in mind that travel overseas can be done much more inexpensively than most realize (I'm sure there are more than a few Hubs here that answer that issue - please let us know via a comment below).

Whether it's Australia or Europe, encourage them to go far, stay in touch and have an adventure. You'll know that they'll get a priceless education even if they don't realize it themselves. Just don't let them get married (Rick can tell you about that particular lapse in judgement, though he did get two awesome girls out of it).

Bruce writes about Earthips and other Buildings amongst other things at The Big Desk.

images: Sydney by kevgibbo, London by John Curnow both on Flickr