Raising Respectful Travelers

Raising Respectful Travelers | TravelEssary

In this episode of TravelEssary, we’re talking about how to instill respectful travel habits in children so they grow into thoughtful, curious, and responsible explorers.

We cover practical tips for raising respectful young travelers, including how to:

• Teach kids to respect different cultures and local traditions
• Encourage understanding of historical landmarks and their significance
• Support local businesses and communities while traveling
• Foster environmental responsibility, like reducing waste and leaving no trace
• Promote mindful behavior around wildlife and nature

By blending education and travel, families can help their children develop a deep appreciation for the world around them. Whether you're road-tripping through national parks or exploring a new country, these lessons can shape your kids into conscious, compassionate global citizens.

🎧 Tune in and discover ways to make every family trip more meaningful and raise travelers who leave a positive impact wherever they go.

Transcript

  We are the Essary family and we're exploring America one destination at a time. On today's episode of TravelEssary, we are going to talk about raising respectful travelers. We're going to share some tips that we have to help you teach your children how to respect the culture's nature and history around them.

Let's chat.

Welcome and thank you for joining us on this episode. This is one that is near and dear to our heart. Something that, , was instilled in us whenever we were children, something that we believe that is a very great and wonderful lesson to teach the next generation how to not only treat other people, but that you need to take care of the things that are around you because everyone knows that we want to keep the wildlife, we wanna preserve our history as much as we possibly can.

And it's also important , especially if you're like us and you're a traveling family or you travel a lot,, whether it's full-time, you know, vacationing, whatever it is, you want your children to appreciate what you're doing for them. You want them to appreciate that travel. And so not only do we want them to be respectful.

Of, you know, new places, new experiences, new people. We also want them to appreciate those experiences because in appreciating them, I think they learn so much. And one thing that I would definitely say before we actually really get off into this subject is we're not telling you how to raise your children.

We're not telling you what you should do at your own home. We don't have the authority to go through there and just tell you how you should do that. But whenever you're at certain locations, especially whenever you're traveling, camping, . At parks, something of that nature. I think this is just a good lesson to learn.

. And I think that , if everyone has the common decency to do these things, the world is gonna be a better place. Yeah. Travel is an opportunity to shape your kids. And to people who are kind, who are compassionate, who are aware of their surroundings and who are grateful. So let's get into our first point.

Respect for history. This is a big one. I know that this might be controversial for some people. But if we don't understand history, if we don't learn from history, then the old adage is we're due to repeat it. And we definitely don't wanna repeat some of the things that we've done, but we need to teach our children to respect the history, to respect where we came from, to understand it so they can not only in themselves grow, but hopefully the next generation will keep on growing as well.

But. You just need to prepare your kids for visiting historical places. Yeah, so we've talked about this in a past episode. , For example, when we go and visit the Alamo the night before we go, we like to watch movies about the Alamo or historical documentaries about the Alamo. And it really helps to put it into perspective for the kids.

It helps them have a visual of what it was like during the time that it's representing. We have certain areas that are very significant

, And preserving that type of history. And , there's so many documentaries, there's so many movies about, the real big impactful things like for Texas, it's definitely the Alamo, I mean. That was one of the war cries remember the Alamo.

So understanding the significance and what those guys and ladies went through to, make that possible, to be where we are right now, I think is just something that is it, it's it easy tool. It's easy to teach them. Mm-hmm. And it's something that in, in my opinion, you, don't need to overlook, because let's be honest, the school system is not gonna teach them everything they need to know.

For sure. I mean, there's too much out there. Not enough time. , There's so much out there just in the US alone of all of the historical places and things to visit, and there's just simply not enough time in a school day. To teach, but while you're there, you as the parent need to be prepared to answer any questions.

If you want your children to know and respect the history, you as the parent need to know and respect the history. And I think that's a given. Anything that you wanna teach your kids, you in turn have to represent as well, and you need to be prepared to. Ask questions. If you want them to retain information, ask them questions, see if they're retaining that information.

, When you're going through and you're reading plaques together or signs whether it's a museum or a historical marker, whatever it is, and you set there and you're reflect on what you're reading together, then your children are much more liable to retain that information. And this is so great because in the world that we live in now with technology the way that it is, this is so easy.

This is something that, you know, if the kids are like, Hey, what does this mean? Or, why is this significant right here? Google. Google. You can look it up on whatever, online app that you want to use to find the information, it's out there. So yeah, we did this so much, so much as our kids growing up.

, From the time smartphones were a thing, we would pull out our Google anytime the kids asked us a question we didn't know. And now as teenagers like. They're doing that on their own now. Like Justin will have a question. Whenever we went to Oklahoma mm-hmm. And we visited the Chickasaw Nation, he had a lot of questions and instead of asking us, he just pulled it up himself and looked on Google and was researching, and then he would be like, Hey, did you know, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah.

And he would be telling us, and I love that we've instilled that. Love of learning and history and culture into them because now they're researching it on their own without even asking us and then sharing that information with us. And I just think that's amazing and it's really cool because now you can take that technology and you can tie it into a story that someone who lived , the experience.

Yeah. If you can share. A personal experience, a personal view through someone's eyes who lived that experience? I think of like, you know, the silence, do good letters or things like that. You think of letters, journal entries, . Things that were written personally during that time.

And you can share a story with them. And I think it really helps 'em to gain empathy of what the people were going through during that time period. And it's always great to explain how this affects their life today. Yeah, if possible, if possible, not everything's gonna do that. But there are a lot of things, especially in US History, that, because that happened, that's where we live right now.

. I think of Ellis Island and how, you know, so many of the immigrants that came through. , For years and years and years are now some of our children's ancestors. And so when we're in a situation like that, I can tell them, Hey, did you know your.

Great-great-great-great grandfather came through during the potato famine because I feel like that's when most of, , my side of the family came through was during the Potato famine, and they came through Ellis Island and this was their experience and it helps them, again, to have that personal story and view it through someone else's eyes, but to relate it to their life now.

And so it's all about respecting history, which will also go into appreciating. The culture and the communities. Yeah, I think it's super important to instill appreciation and gratitude in your children. But yes, even when you're traveling, you want them to appreciate the local cultures, the local communities, , and there are different ways that you can do that.

The first thing that I think about is teach your children about the cultures and the regions that you're visiting. If you're in a First American nation, teach them about those experiences. , Before we went to Chickasaw in Ariel's, , homeschool studies, we were very specifically learning about the Chickasaw Nation and the Oklahoma territories because we wanted to have that knowledge.

I wanted, , Ariel and I to have that knowledge before we went in. So I tied it in with what we were learning. And then when we got there, she's like, oh, mom, , we learned about this. We talked about this. So whether you're in Amish territory, whether you're in different parts of the south or the north, you know, there are so many different cultures and histories and communities, and you can teach your children about each one.

If you're up in Maine, teach them about the fishing community. I think that's like , a very important part of. The community in Maine, if you're down in Florida, especially if you're in like Miami or the Keys or something, teach them about the Cuban community. There's so many different places that we have in the US where you can teach them about different cultures.

That's one thing that we're definitely looking forward to probably the most, is being able to. Be a part of , that community or, lifestyle that the locals are gonna be doing because, you know, we want to experience that. That's gonna be amazing. Being up in Maine, being up, you know, around all the different fishing, I just think , it's so good for children to understand and to comprehend why they live the way that they do. Yeah.

I think it's important to point out the cultural and historical differences because pointing them out doesn't. Make anything wrong by any means. I think the world and the regions being so incredibly different is what makes the world so beautiful, and being able to experience and appreciate those differences I think is a beautiful thing.

And it's a. A growing experience as well. A learning and a growing experience. So yeah, teach your kids, Hey, did you notice that they did this different than we do? What did you think about that? How cool was that? That's a unique perspective of how they're doing it. You know, things like that.

I think it's really important to teach your kids, encourage them to listen. Observe their surroundings thoughtfully. Not just judgmentally, but thoughtfully. Yes, that's different, but what makes it so special? , Why is it interesting? Like maybe not so much. Oh, that's weird. But that's unique. , That's an interesting perspective.

Teach them to think that way. If you want them to be, mindful travelers, and one of the great ways to do this is by supporting the locals going to local mom and pop stores, , restaurants, or even activities that they might be having as far as, you know, a county fair or some type of community get together.

Now we've talked about supporting local so much. Travel, local support, , local. It's super important. You're supporting that community by purchasing from small businesses, by attending the festivals, going to farmer's markets,  it's another way to help teach your children about appreciating their local communities or the local communities that you're traveling through.

, This helps them understand that they're a guest in a community, not just a consumer. So a lot of times especially when we're on vacation, we have that consumer mindset. Which we're gonna be talking about in next week's episode when we talk about souvenirs.

But we have consumerism on the brain because vacation is all about making yourself happy, right? It's all about what can I get out of it? Right? Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme type, type of thing. Mm-hmm. Whenever it's more, yes. You're on vacation. You need to get rest. You need to enjoy everything while you're there.

But you also need to be very respectful because you're in someone else's backyard. I like to say, yeah, you're in someone else's house, you're a visitor, you're a guest in that community. Yeah. , Don't leave with the locals having a bad taste for tourist or something like that. Mm-hmm. Because of you.

And then something changes. A rule happens because of something that you did wrong. Right. A hundred percent agree. We always go to places and we're like, oh man, I wish we can do this. And then there is a rule that says you can't do this. And we're like, well, that doesn't make any sense.

It's probably because someone, messed it up. And now , the rest of us that come after them have to suffer the consequences. Yeah. . Be mindful and create mindful travelers. The third point we want to talk about is teaching your children environmental responsibility on the road.

Now, I hope you're teaching your children environmental responsibility at all times. I'm not talking about going out and hugging a tree and getting extreme here. We're not gonna talk about the extremes. There's different people with different opinions on that, and we're not gonna get political. However, there are certain etiquettes, I guess, that you should always keep in mind.

. Absolutely. , Whatever you do in your own house, that's totally up to you. But what you do out, especially in, in public spaces, in public spaces, may not make a big difference to you, but it is to someone. Mm-hmm. I that working for a municipality, there's definitely things that I can throw out there.

Like, you go to a park, you have a picnic. Enjoy your picnic. That's why the park is there. Mm-hmm. But pick your stuff up, clean up after your picnic. Don't leave your stuff there, because then someone else is gonna have to come in and take care of that. And if they're spending their time picking up your trash, then it's less time that they actually get to, you know, beautify the place, planting flowers, mowing weed, eating, all that kind of stuff.

Mm-hmm. So everyone can enjoy it because they're having to. Pick up after you instead of you doing what you should be doing. Yeah. So there's that saying, you know, leave no trace behind or leave only footprints. Take only memories. And I really like that. I think that's a great concept when you're camping, when you're in public parks, when you're in national parks, , places like that, like leave no trace behind.

Another thing that Jeremy likes to tell us is leave it better than we found it. And that comes from so many different aspects of my life that has just been instilled in me. . There have been a couple times we've pulled up into a campsite and it was not the cleanest when we were pulling up, you know, in a tent or an rv and , the first thing we did was like, get out and pick up the trash one because we don't want to.

Spend our week there, or a weekend there, , with someone else's trash everywhere. Right. Or having to look at it. Right. And two, you know, when we leave, it's all gonna be picked up. Yeah. A lot of people have that mindset. Well, I didn't do it. It's not my responsibility, it's not my trash, it's not my problem.

Oh. And that irks me. Oh, I know. It's so bad. Do you live in this environment, then it's your responsibility. Yeah. It is your responsibility. I feel like, especially if you're a tourist or you're a traveler and you're going through a community, I think it is your responsibility. Even if you're not the one who left it,

Like we were talking about a while ago, somebody else is gonna create a rule that now everyone has to follow because they did something stupid. So if you want to have few of those as possible so that you can have the utmost experience, then yeah, it is your responsibility to help the traveling community to have , a good look about them and teaching your kids this is so important now.

Not everything that you see out there is gonna be something that you can help clean up. We were at a camping location and there was a pallet that was just leaning up against the tree. Yeah. So we couldn't take care of the pallet. Like we didn't know where it, it goes. Well, I didn't know if it was the parks pallet.

Right. Or if someone brought it and left it. And so all we did is we notified, the park attendants, the work campers, attendants the work campers, you know, whatever you wanna call 'em. We notified them and say, Hey, this is at our campsite. Can you send someone to come pick it up?

Or, you know. Also, another thing is for them to make sure that it, it wasn't ours. Yeah. We didn't leave it there, so hopefully we don't get dinged and we don't get called out for it.

And so teaching your children kind of how to take care of the campground, take care of the trash that's around you, and in the environment is always going to be wildlife of. Some type. This could be the big wildlife as far as the buffaloes or you know, even around here we have a lot of deer.

But even into the smaller creatures where it gets into the raccoons, the skunks, wildlife is going to be everywhere. No matter where you go. There will be wildlife there.

You need to be mindful. You need to be thoughtful. You need to teach your children. You need to teach yourself how to handle those situations. , Most of the parks that you're gonna go to, especially national parks, they're gonna have a list of rules. Don't feed the bears. There is a reason you don't need to feed the bears when it tells you to stay away from the buffaloes and don't take pictures six feet away.

There's a reason for that. It's not only for your safety, but it's also for their safety and for their wellbeing.

That reminds me of a story that I just read on Facebook the other day. I can't remember where it was, but they had to put down a bear because it was repeatedly showing behaviors of getting into a. Campers food, and even in the bear safe things like the, the big old poles that they tie 'em up on really high, it climbed up there and got their equipment and their food.

And so they had to put that bear down because , that shows dangerous behavior that could lead to aggressiveness towards a human. So yeah, there's a reason. Why there are certain rules regarding wildlife. It's not just for your safety, which obviously is very important in the safety of your children, but it's also for the safety of those animals.

And respect the small wildlife too, like the foul. I mean, how many YouTube videos, although we love watching the YouTube videos, but how many videos are out there of. Children running away from geese or running away from ducks because, well, usually because they're teasing them. Because they're teasing, because they're not respecting them.

Mm-hmm. Uh, same thing with squirrels, you know, it's like, oh, we wanna feed the little squirrel, and . The squirrel cannot tell the difference between a nut and your finger. Right. That reminds me when we were at Disney World and the squirrels would get so close to us in Magic Kingdom, like they would come up to you and almost beg for food, like your funnel cakes or whatever you were eating.

Mm-hmm. And I remember at the time thinking, oh my gosh, that's so incredibly adorable. I feel like Snow White for real. But then a few years later, we were watching a video of like the same spot in Disney World. And this squirrel basically attacked this girl for her food. He started biting her hand and stuff, and she was screaming, and I was like, oh my gosh, that could have been us.

We didn't feed the squirrels, but we were very, very close to them. So yeah, , even the squirrels can be dangerous. Do not feed them your food. So just keep that in mind. Be respectful. Teach your kids, do some research, and it doesn't matter where you go. Whether it's the beach.

And you're looking for sharks, jellyfish and jellyfish. So just wanna be mindful and respectful of the wildlife. Let them do what they do. Mm-hmm. I think I've mentioned this somewhere on the podcast before, I'm not sure, but there is a page on Facebook that's dedicated to toons.

Have I told you about this? I think no, but now I gotta go find it. , It's dedicated to toons and basically it's. Moronic tourist who visit Yellowstone. Oh, I could definitely see that. And or just like national parks in general, but I feel like Yellowstone's like the main one that they talk about. And I feel like half of the posts that are made are made about the wildlife, like people getting out and trying to take selfies with the buffalo.

Yeah. It's not a petting zoo. No. That is so dangerous. And how many videos are there on YouTube where. People are getting way too close to a buffalo and then they charge them. And then there was that video that came out a couple of years ago where they were going through a drive-through Safari and , this lady got out and started taking pictures and was like attacked by Lion.

I was about to say, even the drive-through safaris are not 100% safe but it. It's crazy because they're not respecting the rules that are posted about the wildlife. And even if you're not in the wild, so to speak, , it's still considered wildlife.

. Just to clear that up. Yeah. If it's not domesticated, , it's definitely wildlife., 

it's super important that when we're out there traveling, that we're shaping our little ones to be humble and curious. Little travelers, and there are ways to go about that. Encourage them to connect with the experiences around them and the experiences that they are going through, and they can do that.

Through journaling. There are a lot of people who love to have travel journals. If you have a little author, a little writer on your hand, that's a great concept through scrapbooking and photography, through videography and even social media. We talked about this a few weeks ago with our 18-year-old, about letting your teens, especially, I'm not gonna say your children, but allowing your teenagers to have their.

Their cameras and their social media to document and connect to relate to their experiences. Having some sort of like artistic venue that allows them to share, helps them connect with the experiences that they're having. You want to help them be interactive because that's going to trigger something in the brain.

And it's going to make memories even that much more stronger. Mm-hmm. And more impactful in their lives. Oh, I'm really big on the Montessori method, and even as adults, you know, if I have something that I can put my hands on as we're talking and learning about something that sensory stimulation helps me to remember what it is we're learning about.

And it's the same way with your children, whether they're writing it down, whether they're taking videos or posting social media about their traveling experiences. That hands on connection. Yeah, because it helps them to relate to it even more. We can always stop and we can read a plaque and it's gonna give us good information and we'll be like, oh, okay.

But it sometimes it's hard for our mind to truly wrap around . And one of the greatest places that we love to go as much as possible is to any museum, whether it's a local museum or a national museum, because they have they have such good connection between the imaginary and, and the visual.

And the visual that's there. Mm-hmm. And so it allows you to put all the puzzle pieces together and really come out with the clarity picture that will help you. And it helps them to appreciate, the more you learn about something, the more you appreciate it. The more knowledge you have, then the more you appreciate that experience.

However, if you as the parent are not showing appreciation. For your experiences. You can't expect your child to it goes hand in hand with whatever you do as the parent, you're gonna expect your child to follow. If you want humble, gracious, curious travelers, then you as the parent, need to be a humble, gracious, curious traveler.

And this isn't something that you can always do just by saying it. It's something that you also are going to have to do to show them. To show them, right? Monkey monkey. See Monkey Dew. Yeah, teach them that travel is a gift. By showing your gratitude for having that experience. I'm not saying fake it. I'm not saying be overly enthusiastic, but to show genuine. Appreciation and curiosity about what you are experiencing, and your children will pick up on that? Absolutely. Yeah. 'cause if you're disconnected, they're gonna be disconnected. So by taking the time, showing them, teaching them,

you're gonna make great and wonderful explorers, travelers, adventurers, adventurers. , And you don't have to travel internationally to raise globally minded compassionate kids. There is every opportunity to do so right here in the us

The US is full of opportunities to teach awareness and respect, and although maybe one day we will get to travel the world, right now our focus is traveling America and experiencing all that we can. And in doing so, our children have definitely grown up with a concept of being appreciative and being respectful of the cultures and the history around them,

, And it has just driven a curiosity into them about the unknown, about foods they don't know about, of experiences they've never had, even dances they've never seen. I'll never forget after we visited Chickasaw and we went to the cultural center and we spent the day there.

There were first Americans who were doing dance demonstrations, and we even got to join in a few of them, and they were explaining what each dance meant. Like they did one dance and it was the friendship dance, and then different ones. And whenever we left, our oldest, Justin said, that was not what I was expecting at all.

Whenever they were going to do the stomp demonstration, a stomp dance. I think that's what it's called. And I said, what do you mean it's not what you were expecting? He was like, well, all I knew was what was based off of movies and they were all in historical time periods. Nothing like modern day and what , the culture is like for them now.

He said, so it just. Completely blew him away. It wasn't good or bad, it was just he was so curious as to why it was so different from what was portrayed in the movies. And so I was very thankful that he was able to go and have that experience and. Grasp a true knowledge of, you know, what a stomp dance looks like today for the Chickasaw culture and what each dance means.

And he just thought it was really neat that all of them had a meaning and a purpose, and we really, really enjoyed our experience there. And I cannot wait until we're able to show them so many more experiences like that.

It helps to teach them the difference between consuming something and connecting to something. it's really important to teach the difference between consuming, and connecting,

so whenever you're traveling, , it's not all about me, me, me, me, me. We need to make sure that there is a balance between where we are and what we're doing with the locals, with the community, with the vibe that is there.

And these are just a few of the tips that we instill inside of our children. And that we encourage other people to do because we want to make this place. A better place.

And we can do that by working with each other and showing each other respect no matter where we are in our walk in life, something that is super easy and that we should all strive to do.