Maybe you’ve encountered it, this skepticism about kids being thrown into the deep end of a nomadic lifestyle. How does that impact their education? Their social skills? Or their security? But what you seldom hear advocated is what RVing teaches kids. Maybe that’s because it’s subtle, deep, and difficult to explain. Truth is, it’s often better shown than told. So, let me start by sharing a memory of mine.
Just before dusk we took our seats at the entrance to the cave. The ranger laid out the rules: no phones, no talking, no flashes. The most important rule: absolute silence.
Then it began. From the mouth of Carlsbad Cavern, a single bat emerged. Moments later, the sound of a waterfall arose from the inky depths before a torrent of little black wings burst into the open, rushing up towards the sky. And just when we thought the flow would ebb, another surge. The air filled with the chatter of 350,000 Brazilian free-tailed bats emerging from their cave to hunt for food and feed their young.
Everyone was stunned to silence. My two children craned their necks to look up, way up, to follow the stream of flying mammals snake into the cloudless New Mexico sky. Wonder and awe were plain on their faces. No classroom video could possibly convey the magic of the moment that we all shared.
And what RVing teaches kids goes far deeper than sensation. Let’s take a look at just how valuable travel is in shaping who they are.
What RVing Teaches Your Kids: A Closer Look
“They Are Too Young To Remember It”
It’s said that kids don’t remember events until they are around four years of age. And there is some truth to it. Most adults can’t clearly recall events from early childhood. But does that mean that children don’t gain anything from their earliest years? Absolutely not.
In fact, modern psychology suggests that rich experiences, even when children are preverbal, fundamentally shape a child’s early brain development. Though the specifics of an event may fade, its impact will persist through adulthood. With every interaction, you are introducing them to concepts and stimuli that will shape them forever. Here is an article on how early experiences affect our children, and why you should take the trip, even if your kids won’t remember.
Lessons From the Road
Traveling teaches fundamental life skills. We learn to plan, navigate, and observe. We also learn to be patient and adapt when things go awry. And we learn about our limits. How to push beyond them to reach the top of that hill, and when to back down and call it a day. Our children learn by watching us. They learn that when something breaks, we can fix it or work around it — whether in the RV or in life.
In my opinion, however, they learn the most by simply being outside. They can practice their social skills, develop their imaginations, and learn to problem-solve by engaging in free play outdoors. (Also, homeschooling your kids from your RV is totally possible.)
Treasuring Memories, Not Objects
Living in a small space teaches us so many lessons — how to maximize packing space, how to share and take turns with others (particularly the bathroom), and how to squirrel snacks away onboard without anyone noticing.
At the end of the day, however, it’s learning about what really matters. That may sound cliché, but until you have been forced to trim down your stuff to a bare minimum, you don’t realize how few material possessions you need in day-to-day life — and what you stand to gain by exploring the world around you. Instead of enticing children with a new toy, let them look forward to the next adventure.
Resolving Conflict Instead of Avoiding It
Another direct lesson that my children have learned from the RV is conflict resolution. When there’s an argument, there is nowhere to go to avoid the other person. Sure, you can go on a walk (weather permitting), but you won’t be hiding away in a bedroom somewhere — unless you are lucky enough to have a much bigger RV than we possess.
On one hand, it can be a bit uncomfortable in the moment, but I’ve seen my children resolve issues much quicker and take their disagreements in stride. What RVing teaches kids is that it’s best to address issues immediately. It’s how you prevent negative emotions from building.
Understanding and Preparing for the Elements
It’s a vicious cycle. Kids that don’t spend much time outside have a much lower tolerance for being outside … so they won’t want to spend much time outside. And if it rains or if it’s cold, well, forget about it. You can hang up that hike or whatever you had planned and call it a day! But kids that spend time outdoors and get exposed to elements on a regular basis grow accustomed to the changes in temperature, humidity, and weather that can happen in a day.
Their bodies learn, and so do they. They learn how to prepare for a hike when it’s wet. They know how to stay cool and hydrated on a walk in the desert sun. And they also learn to make the best out of an unexpected situation. A little rain can be fun! It doesn’t have to ruin the day.
Sure, it may seem like a needless skill when the modern world whisks you from one climate-controlled environment to the next. What RVing teaches kids is that the outdoors is where the fun really happens. Because it’s wild, sensory, and full of discovery. And if we are preparing them for a life of travel and discovery, then this is a crucial skill to develop at a young age.
Being a Custodian of the Earth
It’s easy to take our environment for granted even as we marvel at its gifts. A blanket of starlight over a dry desert horizon. The call of coyotes in the distance. Or the rush of plunging into a cool lake. The role each of us plays in preserving this world for future generations cannot be overstated. When we teach our children to be mindful of what they bring with them on an outing and to clean up after themselves, it’s not just a lesson on tidiness, but of our shared responsibility as inhabitants of planet Earth — it’s the only one we’ve got!
Learning About Nature, In Nature
It’s impossible to capture the smell of a flower in a photo. Neither can the scale of the Milky Way be conveyed on a television screen. At Carlsbad Caverns, my kids didn’t just learn about bats; they shared the same physical space and observed them in their natural environment. In school, they would have learned about these animals from the pages of a book or pixels on a screen. Out here, our children engaged in the lesson using all their senses. And later that night at our RV site, we all watched as bats flitted around our camper, a cozy echo of the earlier spectacle.
Traveling in an RV brings us all a little closer to nature, with countless lessons to learn both on the road and at every stop. Whether it’s life in close quarters or the great outdoors, children are exposed to a wide gamut of rich experiences outside of the everyday. It’s never too early (or too late) to get out there and see the joy on their faces as they discover the magical world just beyond their own.
Learn More About RVing with Kids
Sharing space with your kids in a camper is not for the feint of heart, but it is awesome (and often comical). And like everything in the RV life, we’re always looking to hear and share good advice. The following articles are great if you want to learn more about RVing with your tiny brood.
