This was just posted on Free-Range Kids, and deserves to go viral. So I'm doing my part. The author, Darreby Ambler, is a writer and mother of three from Bath, Maine.
These were the travel rules we used with our kids when they were smaller. They are now 15, 19, and 21, and travel independently and joyfully around the world. (You can tell from the rules that it wasn’t always this way! Hang in there, parents!)
Ambler Family Travel Rules and Responsibilities
- It’s good to talk to strangers. The outside world is full of them. The place you don’t have to deal with them is at home, which is where people who can’t cope with strangers will stay next time.
- Each traveler is responsible for finding things to be excited about, and sharing that enthusiasm.
- If the enthusiasm of others embarrasses you, pretend otherwise. Being cool is dull, except in a sports car.
- Unusual foods are part of the point.
- Staying home is usually more comfortable than traveling, but traveling is more interesting. Prioritize well.
- Travel disruptions are normal and a good way to show your readiness for more challenging adventures.
- Remember that your dislikes do not make interesting conversation.
- Wash your hands. You have no immunity to foreign germs. Throwing up is not interesting.
- You have travel in your future that you can not even imagine. Adhering to these guidelines makes you eligible for such travel.
You know, those people from Bath have a lot of common sense!
The hardest rule for introvert me is number 1. Good list.
I would have hated being that I had to find something to be excited about. If I had been told that, it would have turned being excited into a duty. I'm very glad my parents never said anything like this.
Perhaps, Kathy, you didn't need it. This lady's children, or at least one of them, clearly did. I have the impression that you were always enthusiastic about new places and cultures. Somehow I just can't picture you as the stereotypical, bored teenager (a la the Zits comic), who is determined to be miserable and to make everyone else miserable as well.
I particularly like #6, Travel disruptions are normal.... Not only do they give us a chance to show our readiness for more challenging adventures, but they help us learn to handle such adventures. And by our reactions, teach our children how to handle disruptions and adventures. Speaking as one with a greater-than-normal fear of missing my plane, or having my flight cancelled, I can say that it was empowering to be stranded, on my own (with about a million other people) when a massive winter storm closed the Frankfurt airport.
It seems a lot like life, really. Anyone can do well when everything goes smoothly. ("Doth Job fear God for nought?") It's when things go wrong that we show our true character, strengthen our abilities, and—for good or for ill—teach our children how to respond to life's difficulties.
