Hellobee

I’ve written before about the benefits of traveling with young children, even for those that are too young to remember the trip, because so much learning takes place outside of the classroom. Here are 10 things my kids (ages 4.5 & 6.5) have learned while traveling and living abroad for the past 8 months!

1) How to be bored – Our lives in Brooklyn were busy, busy, busy. Both kids went to school full-time and Charlie attended an after school program every day where he did swimming, soccer, and more. They attended Korean school for 4 hours every Saturday morning with a 2+ hour roundtrip commute. We had friends over for late dinners every Saturday night. And our weekends (and even some weekdays) were typically filled to the brim with activities, because there was always something going on in New York.

Our lives in El Nido are the complete opposite. When you live on a remote tropical island, there really is nothing to do other than go to the beach. No movie theater, no playgrounds, no Netflix, no…. anything. That means Charlie and Olive spend hours every day with completely unstructured time, left to their own devices. I know they get bored because I do too! But in our fast-paced, constantly stimulating world, many believe that boredom is a positive thing for kids (and adults!). When kids are bored, it challenges them to be creative, imaginative, and independent. It forces them to make decisions about what they want to spend their time doing.

2) How to love nature – When we lived in a bustling metropolis, we tried to incorporate nature as much as we could into our lives. We composted with worms at home, we went to the local botanical garden a couple times a month, and we went to the park a couple times a week, but we still lived in a busy city.

I loved what this post by the National Association for the Education of Young Children had to say about kids and nature:

Being surrounded by nature and natural items provides infinite benefits to children. Nature instills in everyone a sense of beauty and calmness. It exposes us to things that are alive and growing and promotes curiosity and exploration. With an adult as a guide, children can learn about being gentle and respecting living things. Self-esteem can thrive outdoors because nature doesn’t judge people. At a time when bullying is prevalent—even in preschools—exposure to nature can help remind children that the world contains an infinite variety of things and all are important. To observe nature requires patience and quiet watchfulness. Imagination comes into play as children create special places and use natural items to create stories and play. All senses become engaged when children interact with the natural world.

We now live by a lush, verdant mountainside very close to the ocean in the Philippines. During the rainy season (right now), grass seems to grow a couple inches every day. There is no light pollution so we can see millions of stars every night, and the kids know how to identify constellations. They know all the phases of the moon and how it affects low and high tide. Leaves and rocks and things found in nature are endlessly fascinating. Animals of all kinds are a part of our daily lives. We are definitely living in nature and the kids love it (except for the mosquitoes).

3) How to love and care for animals –  There are many, many stray dogs in El Nido, and they just moved into our property one by one. Some were hungry, some were injured, some were abandoned by their owners who moved and left them behind. I couldn’t turn any of them away, and soon we had over a dozen dogs! They became a super close pack and we loved them all, but we couldn’t keep them all. So we started a shelter on a farm where the dogs are free to run around on 2 acres and swim in a pond. The kids have helped feed, rehabilitate, name and take care of dogs. One of our dogs snuggles with Olive every night and never leaves her side all night. I’ve created dog lovers for life.

4) How to live with less – I’ve blogged recently how the kids are happier having much fewer toys. They play with what they do have more often and more intensely. I always found it hard to stop buying things like books or anything educational when we lived in New York, but we have no option to buy things here so it’s easy! We read books on the Kindle. We look for activities on Pinterest. We play with things found in nature. Instead of acquiring things, we are acquiring experiences.

5) How to be grateful, empathetic, and generous – Charlie and Olive know that they have much more than the locals, and we talk about gratitude very often from appreciating every little thing we have to not wasting food. At this age I don’t think they fully grasp the concept, but we will continue talking about gratitude as well as practicing generosity. We regularly give away their clothes, shoes, toys, art supplies and food to local kids, and we’ll give away everything we own here before we move back to the States.

6) How to be independent – We live on 5 acres of fenced in land, so the kids have a lot of space to run around. It is very safe here, and they’re able to wander around unsupervised in a way they would never be able to in Brooklyn. Having so many opportunities to be bored has also really fostered their independence.

7) How to love adventure – I have always loved adventure in every form and traveling (I must have the wanderlust gene), and love getting to experience everything with my kids. They have become little seasoned travelers that love adventure as much as I do. Charlie recently went on a 750 meter zipline high atop two islands, can ride any rollercoaster height limits permit, and snorkels like a little fish in the sea. He can’t wait to go scuba diving with me, although he has to wait until he’s 10 to do that! Charlie and Olive love traveling, and they always count down the days until our next trip. We plan to travel all throughout Asia while we’re living here, and I can’t wait!

8) How to be flexible/adaptable – Because we have traveled so much since Charlie and Olive were babies, and even more so since we moved to the Philippines, they adapt easily to any new place we go. I traveled to Korea recently with them by myself, and it was a breeze. They can sleep anywhere, have weird sleeping schedules, take long plane rides, and walk a lot.

9) How to appreciate other cultures – I think the Philippines, or rather El Nido will always feel like a second home to Charlie and Olive because they’ve been coming here since they were babies. But I didn’t anticipate what a big impact a 10 day trip to Korea would have on them. They picked up many new Korean words, tried many different Korean foods, and really saw themselves as Korean. I think they learned more about being Korean in those 10 days than they did in a whole year of Korean school! We’re in Singapore now where we’ll be exploring Malaysian, Chinese, and Indian cultures and foods!

10) An education about the world – Charlie and Olive are learning about other cultures, languages, geography, religion, history, money, animals, nature, science, the environment, the weather, farming, life, death, and so much more. I think they are learning more than they ever would at a school back home!

Charlie and Mr. Bee walking in the ocean at sunset.