Do you remember the days of being young? The energy and excitement that we used to experience got the best of us sometimes, especially when traveling. We couldn’t help it, we were young and we were going to new and exciting places.
I’m sure you also remember driving your parent’s crazy a time or two while traveling. Even though kids will be kids and most people are understanding of that, that doesn’t mean a nerve or two won’t be flicked during long travels.
As I mentioned before, kids are little balls of radiating energy. At times it can seem like they are running on a super charged engine that never needs to refuel, just as we did when we were kids.
However, now that we are grown and some of us have kids of our own, we understand why our parents may have snapped a time or two while traveling. Traveling is stressful in the first place. However, when you throw children into the mix, it can be a bit overwhelming at times.
I can’t count the number of times that I forgot to pack something or took a wrong turn because I was occupied with other things. While it is natural to want to get upset, we must always remember that kids are kids and we likely behaved the same way when we were kids.
Children are awesome, but sometimes it would be nice to simply have five minutes of quite time and concentration. While this moment is pretty hard to come by while traveling with children, there is a skill that can be your knight in shining armor.
Patience is pretty much a miracle when it comes to dealing with just about everything involving children. At times it can be quite difficult to be patient, especially if something like the map gets torn up and used for coloring paper. However, no matter how frustrated we become in situations, there is rarely any good that comes out of expressing that frustration, especially to a child.
One thing that can help you become more patient is remembering how things were when you were a child. I’m sure that your intentions were not to frustrate your parents those times you might have during travels, at least for the most part. We just became overrun with the energy and excitement that I mentioned earlier. Since we were still pretty fresh to the world and had not yet had much life experience, we did not yet know how to properly deal with the feelings we had inside.
Our children are no different. They are still young and still trying to learn the ropes of life. While it may be hard at times to remember this, it is vital when it comes to having patience with your children or anyone else’s.
Some people think they are simply not capable of being patient. While it may be true that some people have an easier time developing patience than others do, the idea that someone is incapable of developing patience couldn’t be any further from the truth.
Setting an example by being patient when traveling with children is actually quite important. After all, a parent being calm may in turn lead to a child calming down. As well, when a child is raised around patient parents, they are more likely to be patient with their children which creates a cycle of healthy relationships.
On top of that, being impatient does not lead to anything getting better. To be perfectly honest, it actually leads to things getting much worse more often than not.
When we become frustrated due to impatience we do not think as clearly as usual. Our thoughts become cloudy and it’s hard to keep our mind focused on the simplest of tasks. The more frustrated we get, the more impatient we become. This cycles continue for many people until everything seems to fall apart.
This is the last thing you want to go through while traveling!
Next time you feel like your temper may be getting a little short or that your patience is running thin, ask yourself, what is it going to fix?
Traveling can be a fun experience for everyone involved, especially children. However, patience is going to be what separates a difficult traveling experience from what that you tell fun stories of for years.
If you feel like you may need some help building your patience, don’t worry, it’s easier than you think. Most of the process involves trial and error until you learn a way to cope with things and build your level of patience. Some things work better for some people than others so it is best to try multiple methods until you find the perfect one for you.
Trust me, once you master the skill of patience, you will surely be thanking yourself!
Click here for valuable tools that can help you build your patience.
