We enlisted families from around the world to share their perspectives and their pictures, to find out how children’s travel experiences differ from their parents’.
Riding on his father’s shoulder, Willem Vezlin Sogaard arrived at the gate to board a ferry leaving Lower Manhattan like a miniature, triumphant explorer.
His eyes darted from the downtown skyline to souvenir vendors to fellow tourists with tickets in hand. It was the 6-year-old’s first time in the United States and he was about to see one of the country’s iconic landmarks: the Statue of Liberty.
“I think it’s a must-see when you’re in the city,” said Willam’s father, Simon Wejlin Sogaard, who traveled from his home in Denmark with several other family members. “It’s a great piece of history. And knowing the history behind the statue and what it represents was really more interesting — I think it’s more important.
Willam was probably too young, like his father, to appreciate what the statue represented. Instead, when he reached Liberty Island and climbed the steps to lay his eyes on the giant green woman, her arm extended by a torch, he was mainly awestruck by her sheer scale.
Marissa Kifolo, 13
New York City
New York City
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
The differences in the views of Mr. Vezlin Sogaard and his young son are emblematic of what many families experience during vacations, and they raise questions that parents around the world often ask: Do young children benefit from traveling to new places? If so, how? Do they find value in seeing historical landmarks and museums? And how does a trip through a child’s eyes differ from their parent’s perspective?
We set out to learn that.
This year, The New York Times sent a team of reporters from Washington, DC to Bangkok to popular tourist landmarks in several cities around the world. At each location, both the parent and their child were given disposable cameras and each was tasked with taking photographs of what was most interesting. His photographs gave us some insights into what caught his eye.
“Culture. Knowing things from history. New experiences.” These are some of the things Maria Segura wanted her children to take away from their visit to the Colosseum in Rome. Her husband, Alberto, hoped the trip would fuel her curiosity and thirst for knowledge. They brought their three children from their home in Madrid.
“I like a lot of history,” said Seguras’ 10-year-old daughter, Julia, whose expectations match those of her parents. “It is to understand the present.”
Unlike her mother, who photographed sweeping views of the reddish brown stone and concrete surrounding the ancient amphitheater, Julia was drawn to the miniature model of the site inside the museum. In fact, among several children interviewed there, she identified the dollhouse-like replica as their favorite part of the tour.
What did her 6-year-old brother David like best?
“Everything,” David said. “Nothing in particular. Wait, model. I also liked the pattern. and sea gulls. ”
His younger sister, Iria, had no say – not because she was only 3 years old, but because she spent most of the trip in her stroller, sleeping.
Victoria Milley, 12
Ancient city
Ancient city
According to historians, appreciating the formal lessons of the past is not the most important thing to be gained from travel.
“This is not about dreary lessons in history,” Mary Beard, a British scholar and author of “SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome,” wrote in an email, tightening her lens on museums in particular. “The great thing about museums for children (and adults) is that they are places of wonder, shock, confusion. One of my earliest memories is the wonder of seeing a 3,500-year-old Egyptian cake in the British Museum.
“I sometimes get a horrible sinking feeling when I see parents think that a visit to a museum should be turned into a long history lesson,” she said. “Well occasionally that might be useful, I guess. But really, going to a museum is learning to think differently.
That was partly the approach taken by two families from Denmark visiting the Colosseum. One of the mothers, Hien Nguyen, recently watched the movie “Gladiator” with her children and was excited to show her children the Colosseum in real life.
“We want children to see things that are very ancient, we want to see how old humanity is,” she said, adding that she was happy that her children could experience the place for themselves.
“We believe that building experience for kids is more important than giving them, you know,” Ms. Nguyen said.
She might be right.
“If you think about your model as a person, most of it is from the first decade of your life, when our worldview is still being constructed,” said neuroscientist Erin Clabaugh, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and author of a book on how neuroscience informs parenting.
“When someone approaches a problem or any kind of situation in their life, they’re bringing with them this tool kit that they can draw from all their past experiences,” Dr. Klabau explained. And visiting different cultures can add to that tool kit, she said, by giving children new ways to think, do and know, all of which help them “navigate the world in a fuller way.”
“You’re giving them the possibility of all things,” he said. “And I think that helps foster not only creativity, but compassion.”
Islee Pringle, 11
Washington DC
Washington DC
National Mall
National Mall
There is beauty in simplicity that appeals to a child. So adults can marvel at the splendor of a mosaic that has retained its color over the centuries, diverting a child’s interest to seemingly more trivial matters.
Claudia Vermeer was traveling with her two daughters, Emma, 12, and Sophie, 10. His home was in Germany, but he was on his seventh month of a tour that would take him around the world.
The family has finally arrived in Thailand, the 11th country they visited on their trip, and is exploring Wat Pho, one of several sprawling royal temples on the Chao Phraya River in the heart of Bangkok. The site is known for its many stupas, statues, and a glittering, golden, 151-foot-long reclining Buddha statue.
She said that Mrs. Vermeer was constantly amazed at how different her perspective was from that of her daughters.
“They see things I don’t see and they experience things differently,” Ms. Vermeer said. “In general, I want to open their horizons and make them tolerant people.”
Inside the sun-drenched buildings with intricate trims, beautifully decorated objects such as a magnificent statue of Buddha were displayed, reclining and welcoming visitors. But what caught Sophie’s eye were the small bronze bowls in which more than 100 tourists lined the hall to place their donations and make wishes. This pleased Sophie.
“I liked putting the little coins in the bowls,” he said.
Amaury Avenas, 11
Adolescent fixations can be uncontrollable, they can be unpredictable.
On a recent day in Paris, in late winter, the weather was overcast and gray. Sandra Yar brought her 5-year-old son Noah here for the first time from Germany. He had visited some other places popular with tourists – Versailles, the Louvre – and now it was time for Noah to see the Eiffel Tower.
Standing in the shadow of one of the world’s most iconic landmarks, the wrought iron tower towering more than 1,000 feet above him, Noah was drawn to pocket-sized objects hawking on the ground: little Eiffel Tower key chains. He couldn’t wait to show them to his friends in his kindergarten class.
“Paris is really beautiful, but next time we will come without our baby,” said Mrs Yar. Visiting her young son was difficult, she said, because he was “too young to understand that five major chains were more than he needed.”
Jean Oyhenart, 15, and Benoit Oyhenart, 9
The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower
In New York City, after returning from Liberty Island, Willam, a 6-year-old boy from Denmark, goes from an energetic and curious child leaning on his father’s shoulders, to a tired and quiet boy standing among family members. And waiting for someone to announce that the day is over.
From a look at the pictures he took that day, it’s clear what happened:
He spent a good portion of his energy on Liberty Island, trying to peer over walls and rails that he couldn’t easily see.