Traveling with kids

The other day our family was talking about some of the great experiences we have had in Singapore.  I have felt it's been an amazing opportunity to see so many things we would never have the opportunity to do if we were living in the U.S.  I mentioned we have done a fair amount of traveling and Jen said, "We haven't been that many places."  The list isn't huge, but pretty extensive for 9 months-  Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand- and many of these places more than once!  Jen proceeds to say, "I thought the best traveling we ever did was going to Epcot."  This is so typically what a kid thinks!  The benefit of Epcot was you see about 10 countries in one day- all countries have neat gift shops and there is no dealing with airplane rides, a kids fantasy, but not reality.  I thought about what we have done on most of our trips, and we do plan them to cater to our girl's desires.  All trips must include shopping, good food, and a pool.  They might see a neat sight or a pretty beach, but that's not what they care about.  Sight-seeing and scenery is boring to them.

I was reminded of a sermon I heard where the pastor talked about taking his kids to Disneyland and trying to make every kids fantasy happen and when he got them to Disneyland the 5 year old boy sat down and said he wanted to go back to the hotel and swim in the pool.  It's amazing how different kids are from adults- scenery, historical buildings, and landmarks are the last things they want to do.  But we drag our kids to give them experiences---would you want to see this in real life!