We all want the best for our children, we all want them to succeed and fall in love with life. But most importantly, we want them to be happy. And there is no better way to fuel happiness other than travel! Here are a few ways you can infuse the magic of wanderlust into your children to get them ready to see the world.

1. Be Weekend Warriors

On weekends during the school year, hit the nearest campground or spend day hiking! Go on long road trips in the summer. As parents, we should be showing our kids the land we live on. From the mountaintops, to the beaches, to the forest – show them all of it. Teach them about wildlife and space and weather patterns and nature signs. Instill it in their brains that our world is large and needs to be explored.

Once they go off into the world on their own, they’ll have a whole new world to explore and a whole list of new places they’ll want to see. And they have all the travel knowledge to make it happen.

2.Show Them Anything Is Possible

Your child will hear you when you tell them anything is possible, but showing your child will make them believe it. As a parent, it’s important to never stop nourishing what your soul needs. Want to go to Mexico? Make it happen. Want to learn how to sew? Make it happen. Want to learn a new language? Make it happen. Want to quit your job and start a business? Make it happen. Self-care is an essential part of good parenting.

Your child will see you doing what makes you happy and the hard work it takes to get there and will learn to do the same. They’ll understand the importance of fueling their own happiness and take that with them once they go out into the world.

3.Travel to Different Countries

Exploring other countries with your children is a great way to teach them to value and respect other cultures, helps them understand and acknowledge the diversity that exists in our world.

Keep your eye out for cheap overseas flights and deals on cruises. As each year passes by, airfare is becoming more and more affordable. With more Air BnB’s popping up from around the world, lodging is becoming more and more affordable; it couldn’t be a better time to travel! I know traveling overseas isn’t easy, but it is possible.

4.Eat Meals From Other Cultures

A great rule to have in a household is to only eat out at restaurants and fast food places seldom. A better rule to have is that when you do eat out at restaurants, the purpose is to experience another culture in a way you couldn’t do at home.

Try out all the restaurants from around the world in your town. It’s likely there is everything from Mexican to Indian food to Brazilian food to Asian food to African food! On sites like squareship, you can find endless sources of travel inspiration to fuel your food journey.

If you like the food you ate, learn how to make it at home. These meals with create memories and traditions that the kids will certainly look back on and cherish. They might like a food so much, they’ll want to go travel there.

5. Show Them That Money and Materials Aren’t Everything

On Christmas morning, instead of waking up to excessive presents under the Christmas tree, maybe you and your family head to the airport instead! Keep the toys and technologies minimal, and use that money to travel instead. When your kids are older, they won’t remember the silly toys and games they played – they’ll remember the amazing experiences you gave them traveling from place to place with the people closest to them.

Your kids may be mad at you when you tell them they don’t need the newest iPad, but in the future they’ll thank you for prioritizing travel and experiences over money and materials. It is also important to remember that when you prioritize traveling so much, it’s easy for your children to think it’s normal to see the world, and overtime they may think nothing special of it.

Practice gratitude every single day. Never let them forget that seeing the world is a beautiful thing that not everyone gets to do. And that they should feel extremely fortunate they get to do so!

6.Teach Them Another Language

With apps like Duolingo and Rosetta Stone, learning a new language has never been more accessible or easy! Is there a language you have always wanted to learn? Pick a language and learn it with your child. Try to pick a language that will be useful to them in the future, like French or Spanish. Better yet, learn it with them.

This opens so many doors for your child. They can live and work comfortably in any country that speaks that language, which means twice the opportunity for success!

7.Encourage Them To Take Risks

Sounds backwards, right? A parent telling their child to take risks! We want to keep them safe, but their safety isn’t entirely up to us. It’s the universe, the people around us, and the environment they are in that make those decisions. In a world where it is easy to stay comfortable, encourage them to live beyond their comfort! Because that is where life truly begins. This will teach them the importance of following their intuition and not their fears. If you want your child to be truly happy, you must show them that there is nothing to be afraid of in this big, beautiful world and that they need to go after what their hearts want.

The best way to instill wanderlust in your children is to lead by example. Show them how much beauty is out there waiting to be seen and teach them the tools they need to make it happen. Once they go off into the world on their own, even if they don’t say it often, they will thank you everyday for the experiences you gave them and for the wanting they have to see more!