Parenting: 4 & 5-Year-Olds Community

We took Levi to London and Paris for the first time when he was 3. While he does not remember much, he still got a lot out of the trip. The underground, trains and double decker buses were the highlights and are still popular. His second trip was to London and Wales at 5 to look at castles. He got more out of that trip. This recent trip even more. We firmly believe that there is value at any age. Just being in a different country with different sounds, smells, languages . . . has great value. Our children live in a much more global world than we did at their age. It is all about setting expectations on what you will do with your time. If this is a once in a lifetime trip then maybe it isn't a great idea but if you expect to return again then each trip builds upon the last. When we travel to Europe, we set out one (maybe two if it coordinates) things to do per day with time to relax and maybe hit a play park. Keep the agenda loose and flexible. We also try to stay on Chicago time. That means sleeping in and staying up late which works well in Europe. We always have general plans of things we want to accomplish on a trip without hard dates per se. I do lots of research ahead of time to figure out what are good activities, restaurants and locations of play parks. Right now I'm already planning for our trip in May/June. We are headed back for my 50th birthday celebration. The plan is to go to Copenhagen, I'm hoping to get dinner reservations at Noma, and back to London with day trips around London as usual, maybe if we have the energy run up to Edinburgh. I say take her, set modest goals and enjoy. I recommend checking out the babyccino blog on the babyccino website. There is a section on traveling to Paris with children under the City Guides tab. I found this blog when researching our first trip to London with Levi. I even reached out to Courtney, the London mom, for specific ideas. I'm sure Emilie, the mom from Paris, could give you some insights as well.