Traveling with children: for Italian parents, the children’s favorite destinations win

For Italian parents, when traveling, the destinations they offer are priorities destinations and entertainment suitable for children. It is the first determining factor in choosing where to go on holiday, followed by safety, health and costs. This is what emerged from an investigation by the sNovakid English school about European parents.

According to the survey, Italian parents travel a lot with their children: 72% of the sample who participated in the research say they travel several times a year with their children, 7% do so once a month and 14% at least once a year.

Family friendly destinations

When it comes to choosing a family travel destination, the most important thing is the presence of activities suitable for children (indicated by 45% of parents as an element to consider), in second place in order of importance safety not health-related issues. Il cost of travelhowever, does not seem to be relevant when choosing which trip to take: only 12% say they consider the cost before deciding on the destination of the trip.

A difference compared to parents from other European countries: the French, for example, choose a trip mainly based on the cost, while for Polish parents issues related to health and safety are the most important thing.

The educational aspect of the trip, however, is not among the most important elements when choosing a family destination, and only 12% of respondents say they evaluate this aspect. In short, we travel more to have fun, relax and be together. Also in other countries: in France and Germany for example, the educational value of travel is taken into consideration by 2% of survey respondents.

Stressful aspects

The hardest part when traveling with i young children is to keep them busy along the way. 64% of parents in Italy said that entertaining children in the car or on the plane to their destination is the most stressful aspect.

Another difficult element is managing to maintain the children’s routine while you are away from home. Packing, however, does not create problems for Italian parents and only 10% of participants indicate it as a problematic aspect of a trip. For parents in all other countries, however, packing is the most unpleasant aspect when it comes to traveling with children. Maybe it’s because between the stroller, favorite toys and clothes that need to be changed often, you always end up traveling full of things.

Books, stickers and a lot of patience: little tricks for happy journeys

What’s the secret formula for happy, non-stressful travel with little ones? According to the parent-travelers in the survey, the answer is: patience and involvement.

As regards involving the little ones in the trip, there is a lot of advice: establish a rough itinerary and then offer different activities to the boys and girls to choose from, involve the little ones in choosing the destination, tell them first what they are going to see for ignite their curiosity, even with videos or images on the internet.

And for entertain the children during the trip? The tricks of parents are many: some choose to travel at night while the children sleep, others buy a new book of their favorite character for the trip, there are those who let the children use tablets and telephones and those who, more creatively, provide a book with stickers. Someone instead chooses the simplest method and also takes the nanny on the trip.

The ideal trip for boys and girls

Traveling is a powerful tool for stimulating the natural curiosity of boys and girls, helping them grow and develop important skills such as knowledge of languages, open-mindedness and self-confidence. But where do the little ones dream of going? The majority who participated in the Novakid survey aspire to a European countrycon Disneyland Paris by far the most desired destination.

After Europe, the second most desired destination is the United States, Las Vegas and New York in particular. But there are also those who dream of more unusual destinations like the Madagascar (maybe for the cartoon?), the Country of Santa Claus, Greenland, China and Egypt.