Summer means travel for most families, thanks to a long break from school and sports obligations. But could some kids be too young to experience the big trips parents plan and save for? One writer asked this when he realized his 4-year-old travel companion might not remember their family vacation. This prompted him to ask the pros what they thought.
According to experts, there’s a good reason why kids don’t remember details from their toddler vacations. However, they did offer some tips for how you can change that.
Children Don’t Create Accessible Memories Until Age 4
Science seems to be tiptoeing around the exact age at which children begin to create formative memories. But the consensus is that it doesn’t start before age 4.
“Because there’s a huge range of when lasting memories begin and last, it’s hard to say with certainty when the right time is for a bucket-list trip for any given family,” says Rebecca Weksner. The Washington Post. She is a psychologist in Massachusetts who specializes in pediatrics and the mother of three young children. “One child may remember it because the emotional experience may be too strong to create a long-term memory trace, while for another it may not,” he explains.
There Are Certain Things That Can Make Memories More Likely To Stick
You can do a few things to make your big-ticket vacation more memorable for your child, according to Ryan Sultan, who also spoke to the Post. He is an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University.
“To make experiences more memorable, consider activities that cater to their interests,” he says. He says trips where they participate in activities and experience sensory stimulation can leave a bigger impression. “A visit to a children’s museum or zoo can be more memorable than passive sightseeing.”
Parents and guardians should also focus on keeping their children active, so that they can have good memories of their trip. Travel planner Tom Marchant told the Post that he and his company Black Tomato are helping parents here. “We organize experiences that can be done in a short amount of time to keep a child in awe,” he explained. “In this way, we can prevent young children from getting bored and tired, which can overwhelm the richness of the experience.”
In other words, skip the long lines and don’t overschedule. And follow your toddler’s cues when they’re old enough for the day!
Keep Memories Alive After You Get Home
We all know how critical repetition is when helping children learn. Jessica Sproat, a child development specialist from Vancouver, told The Washington Post that parents should talk about their trip after they get home, especially when comparing what they saw while they were away at the sights. and taste of home. He gave several examples of conversation starters, such as “This is different than what we saw in…” and “This tastes like what you eat…”.
“This process of linking existing knowledge to new experiences strengthens cognitive associations, aids knowledge transfer and improves memory,” he continued.
Chatting about your time away, especially while reminiscing about happy memories, can help you both remember the good times you had. This can make it easier for kids to remember their trip long after you’ve put away the suitcases.
Sometimes, Travel Is More Than Creating Memories for Your Child
Traveling with young children has many benefits besides getting a chance to see the world.
“Traveling provides many opportunities for new experiences and therefore has the ability to activate different regions of the brain,” Jessica shared in her interview. “These activations strengthen the connections between neurons in the brain and increase the ability to change and adapt in response to new experiences, leading to increased learning capacity.”
Let’s not forget the benefits of a shared experience that parents will carry with them for life. While your 2 year old may not remember the Disney trip for the rest of his life, you will! You will always have that image of the first time they saw the Magic Kingdom or met their favorite movie character. And that may be all that matters.
