Adventures In Parenting

Admire those people with the confidence to take their young children with them on trips? We spoke to two adventurous parents about how they do it.

EVERY DAY ON THE ROAD IS A LEARNING experience, fired by curiosity and wonder. It’s only natural that some well-travelled parents feel it’s the best education they can give their children.

For journalist and adventurer Catherine Lawson, who lives with photographer David Bristow in Cairns, Australia, that was very early: “I kick-started my adventures with daughter Maya when she was just four weeks old and three passports later she is filled with wanderlust,” she says.

Paul Niel, an Austrian climber and explorer who lives with wife Esther and daughter Zaya in Hong Kong says: “Any concerns we had that adventure travelling with our daughter would be difficult quickly dissolved. Three years and 31 countries in, we look back on many unforgettable trips and ahead to more to come.

Between them, the two young families have crisscrossed many thousands of kilometres of every possible environment, often in places remote and challenging enough to give the average parent palpitations. Here Catherine and Paul share some of what they have learned along the way.

TIPS FOR MUMS AND DADS

Get kids adventuring early: contrary to popular belief, babies make great travellers. They might need an excess of nappies, but you can bathe them in a hotel sink, snuggle them in your bed, need feed them only milk, carry them in a papoose and they don’t need toys, phones or pals. Kids who begin adventuring early learn to be flexible and tune in to the world around them.

Preparation is key: it starts with the packing. Make sure you have kit for emergencies, and ALWAYS spare clothes and snacks. Pack travel journals, pens, small reading and activity books, and tiny toys for toddlers (a small doll or toy car).