I was never able to understand why my classmates made such a big deal about moving and having to change to a different school. Maybe that's because for me it was the norm rather than the exception - so much the norm that we never attended the same school for two years in a row. Now before you jump to the conclusion that I was a military brat or lived some exotic lifestyle where I traveled the world searching for treasure, allow me to be straight up with you. My stepfather couldn't hold a job for longer than a few months at a time, and my mom was a registered nurse who had been bitten by the wanderlust bug. So the pattern was that we'd move somewhere, settle in, my brother and I would start a new school, Mom and Dad would get jobs, Dad would lose his, Mom would quit hers, and we'd be off again to another city, many times another state, whereupon the cycle would repeat itself.

Now don't get any preconceived notions about Mom, either. She is a very intelligent woman, and at the same time she was working to support us, she was also going to college to obtain her degrees in various fields. Degrees usually meant graduate school, and graduate school meant money, which we had precious little of, so where and how often we moved later on had a lot to do with what schools she could attend through scholarships and grants. All that said, my brother and I learned very early on to adapt to change, often and quickly, and while I don't believe the lifestyle we had growing up was ideal for any child, I am, as an adult, able to look back and see the benefits of having experienced many different places, people, and lifestyles throughout my childhood and adolescence.

So since you can't just go yanking the kids out of school and moving them around every year, your options are usually limited to summer vacations, or whatever part of the year you choose to take them. Ideally, everyone could quit their jobs, buy an RV, and home school the kids while traveling around the country. Again, not an option that most people can or are willing to pursue. But for those yearly vacations, I urge you to not fall into the trap of going to the same place or couple of places every year. Break out of that pattern of going to the beach this year, the amusement park the next. Go somewhere different. Go to a different state. See a different landmark. Skip the landmarks even. Go somewhere off the beaten track. Go to Nebraska. Mississippi. Inland Mississippi, not the coast. Go somewhere where the townsfolk stare at you because they're not used to seeing tourists. That's how you know you've picked a unique place for a vacation. See how much fun you can have. Go ahead. Try it. You might enjoy it and your kids will thank you for it as adults. Below I have listed some of the many benefits kids, and, yes, even adults can glean from eclectic travel patterns.

• Increased Flexibility and Adaptability! Definitely mentally and emotionally, and perhaps physically, too, depending on what type of vacation you're taking. Many adults have a problem with change, and with the exception of a few personality types who will have an issue with it no matter what, I believe that much of this inability to adapt can be reversed by having to adapt and change as children. Seeing new places, experiencing different types of subcultures, meeting people who live life a little differently than you do all cause you to think more flexibly and adapt to your surroundings.
• Heightened Geographical Awareness! I find it embarrassing that our neighbors to the north know more about our geography than most United States citizens. Even Europeans are amazed at how little we know about our own country. Amazing, isn't it? I don't think the problem lies in our education system. I think it has more to do with the importance of geography within our society. We all learn geography in school, but it's kind of like learning a foreign language in school. If we don't use it after we're out of school, we lose it. How many people in the United States move around or travel extensively? Not many. And while I'm not saying that is a negative thing, I am saying that perhaps we should have a little more understanding and appreciation for geography primarily within our own country if not elsewhere as time goes on. Traveling to new places every year, especially by car, will help children - and you - build an awareness of geography. As you travel through different states, make a big deal out of crossing the state line. People rarely do that anymore. It makes me sad that our world, made smaller by technology, has become such a boring place to our children. They take for granted that they can chat with someone on the other side of the world in real time. Sadder yet, how many of them take the time to get a map or a globe to pinpoint exactly where that person is that sits at the other end of the computer? How many of us can say we do that?
• Increased Intelligence! When you travel to new places, see different landmarks, experience new foods, and hear different regional accents, your brain is assimilating new information. This, in turn, causes your brain to stretch, to grow, to expand its neural pathways. You will see a marked increase in intelligence in your child when they are experiencing this hands-on type of learning rather than when they are plopped down in front of the television experiencing passive learning.
• Marked Increase in Curiosity! We all hate it when our kids go through the "why" stage, but as much we hate to admit it, it's a sure sign of healthy mental development. So as much as it pains us, we not only need to nurture that state, but keep encouraging it. Curiosity is the forefather of learning and learning gives birth to intelligence. So go places. See things. Prompt your children with questions. Why do you think this landscape is different than home? What industry do you think this city was founded on? How is the climate different? How does that affect the local lifestyle? Make asking questions a habit. Your children will incorporate that habit into their lives and will become highly intelligent adults by asking questions thereby making sense of the world.
• Heightened Interpersonal Awareness! This goes hand-in-hand with the first point dealing with increased adaptability, but I've given it its own special place here because there is a lot more that goes along with it. Interpersonal awareness deals with how well we understand and empathize with others. When we stagnate and stay in one place around the same types of people we start to lose a certain plasticity when it comes to relating to other people. We begin to think that our way is the only way and that everyone else is wrong or strange. Traveling to different places throughout our lifetime will keep us mentally flexible and better able to appreciate and understand other people's feelings and lifestyle differences.

So I've listed only five benefits here for reasons related to brevity, but there are countless others. Take the time to write down what you think the benefits of travel would be to your children. Then make a list of where you want to go. Get ideas of where they want to go. Remember to be flexible. You will probably have to make some compromises. If they want to go to an amusement park, choose one far away. Make sure you have to cross some new territory to get to it. Schedule a few out-of-the-way stops on your journey. Get off of the interstate! Go through towns with one red light where the police stop you because you have out-of-state tags. Take a chance. Have an adventure. Travel!

-- H.M. Guffey