{"id":7071655,"date":"2026-10-01T17:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T17:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7071655"},"modified":"2026-10-01T17:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T17:51:12","slug":"episode-50-how-can-i-involve-my-kids-in-the-family-travel-planning-the-wandering-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7071655","title":{"rendered":"Episode 50: How Can I Involve My Kids In The Family Travel Planning? – The Wandering Daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"


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In this episode of the Worldschooling Q&A Podcast, Astrid and Clint answer how families can involve their kids in family travel planning.<\/p>\n

Worldschooling Q&A Podcast – Episode 50<\/h2>\n

Hosts:<\/strong> Astrid & Clint, creators of The Wandering Daughter<\/p>\n

Title:<\/strong> Episode 50: How can I involve my kids in the family travel planning?<\/p>\n

This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase something. But don’t worry, this will not result in any extra costs to you.<\/em><\/p>\n

Worldschooling podcast episode summary<\/h2>\n

In this episode, we dig into a question that comes up constantly in worldschooling circles: how do we actually involve our kids in family travel planning? It is one thing to say kids should have a voice, and another thing to build family travel planning habits that hold up when itineraries get complicated.<\/p>\n

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This episode connects directly to our own family travel planning story, starting with our four and a half years of full-time travel and continuing into the shorter vacations we take now that our kids are back in traditional school.<\/p>\n

We walk through practical family travel planning tools we have used at different ages: offering toddlers a short menu of choices, letting older kids pick destinations, and eventually handing teens a real planning project, like the week our kids mapped out an entire day in London using a maps app and a budget.<\/p>\n

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Worldschooling consultations <\/strong><\/p>\n

Meet with Clint and Astrid for personalized help with your worldschooling plan. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

We also talk honestly about what happens when family travel planning goes sideways, like the day our daughter just wanted to go home from Edinburgh Castle. This episode is for any parent who wants family travel planning to feel like a shared family project instead of a chore that falls entirely on the adults.<\/p>\n

Why family travel planning benefits from including kids early<\/h3>\n

Family travel planning works better when kids are part of it from the start, not handed a finished itinerary. We have found this true at every age and stage of our travels.<\/p>\n

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Using a world map for family travel planning (photo by Astrid Vinje)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reducing parental stress through shared family travel planning<\/h4>\n

One of the biggest benefits of collaborative family travel planning is that it takes pressure off the parents. When kids help choose activities or work through a list of options, that input genuinely lightens the load.<\/p>\n

It also protects against the worst version of family travel planning: spending weeks building an itinerary, only to have your kids reject it the moment you arrive. Giving kids a stake in the plan from the beginning heads that off.<\/p>\n

Avoiding the sting of rejection in family travel planning<\/h4>\n

Family travel planning can feel personal when a kid says they would rather stay at the hotel than go out. It is easy to interpret that as rejection of all the work you put in.<\/p>\n

We have learned to see it differently. When kids help build the plan, an activity they later skip was still their choice, not something imposed on them. That changes how the moment lands.<\/p>\n

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Ready for a change? Take the first step to living a life of full time travel. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Letting kids flag pace and downtime needs<\/h4>\n

Involving kids in family travel planning from the start also gives them room to say when a schedule feels too busy. Our teenage daughter can now tell us directly when a day is packed too tight.<\/p>\n

That feedback lets us build in down days or slower activities before we even leave home, which makes the whole trip run smoother. Down time is very important to us, and something we include in every trip that we do.<\/p>\n

Family travel planning at every age, from toddlers to teens<\/h3>\n

Family travel planning doesn’t look the same at every age. What works for a five-year-old looks nothing like what works for a fourteen-year-old. Good family travel planning adjusts for that.<\/p>\n

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Going on a camping trip with my son as a toddler (photo by Astrid Vinje)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Involving toddlers and young kids in family travel planning<\/h4>\n

With younger kids, family travel planning starts with offering a short list of choices rather than open-ended questions. We might describe a park, a museum, or a battleship exhibit and ask which one sounds interesting.<\/p>\n

We also use videos and movies tied to a destination to get young kids excited and talking. Kids respond more to visual things at that age. This is not about handing them full responsibility. It is about gauging interest and building enthusiasm early.<\/p>\n

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Letting older kids help choose destinations<\/h4>\n

As kids get older, family travel planning can expand to include picking actual destinations. For example, when we planned for our four-year trip, we started by asking everyone to name three places they wanted to go.<\/p>\n

Our daughter picked Italy, France, and China. Our son, who was turning five, picked the beach, New York City, and Africa, which were not exactly countries, but we understood what he meant and kept those interests in mind throughout our travels.<\/p>\n

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Taking part in a scavenger hunt in Venice with Macaco Tour<\/a> (photo by Astrid Vinje)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Following through so family travel planning input feels real<\/h4>\n

A key part of family travel planning is not treating a kid’s request as something that disappears if you cannot act on it right away. When the pandemic forced us to put trips to Madagascar and Japan on hold, we kept that in mind. And we kept looking for opportunities when we could actually go on those trips.<\/p>\n

We eventually made it to Japan because we never let that idea drop out of our family travel planning conversations. Circling back later matters as much as listening in the first place.<\/p>\n

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Get weekly worldschooling tips sent to your inbox with my Worldschooling Wednesday<\/em>\u00a0email series.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Giving teens real ownership of a trip<\/h4>\n

By the time kids are teens, family travel planning can shift toward real responsibility. We know friends who gave their teenage daughter a budget and a framework, then let her plan an entire trip, bookings and all.<\/p>\n

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Walking through a park in Budapest (photo by Astrid Vinje)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We have moved toward smaller versions of that ourselves. Before a week in London, we had our kids research attractions, plan routes using a maps app, and calculate costs for an entire day. This turned family travel planning into a genuine project for them.<\/p>\n

Submit your worldschooling questions here!<\/a><\/p>\n

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