Travel Tuesday
"In bathrooms, boardrooms, buses, bagel shops, and everywhere else, we all need to imagine a little girl following us around, repeating everything we say and everything we do. Think about all the things you want for yourself and your daughters, granddaughters, and girls everywhere - and teach them by living it yourself."
Nell Merlino in
"Stepping Out of Line: Lessons for Women Who Want It Their Way in Life, in Love and at Work (Broadway)
This line really appeals to me, on so many levels. In terms of travel and my daughter, I can't see any other way of role-modeling and demonstrating how to be a responsive and rounded "global citizen" (and what that even means) than to go on adventures with her. We get to try out things, and have conversations, and ask questions, and seek answers, and laugh, and cry, about all facets of life outside our comfort zone, in real time. And in the places of authenticity as opposed to those fabricated elsewhere.
Given that my daughter missed about 4 weeks of school (year 5), we had organized to do some school work on route. Geometry was on the agenda. Picture this: imagine having discussions about circles, and right angles, and 180 degrees whilst appreciating the impressive Islamic architecture of Morocco, which is what we did on this last adventure. When she returned to school, she had to draw in her workbook "angles" that surrounded her; she draws a picture of the Eiffel Tower...
... and what beautiful angles it has too!
It's what I love most about traveling with my daughter. Sometimes we don't always appreciate what we have in our own backyards, as lessons like these can happen anywhere. Sometimes it takes going away and returning again to realise what it is we've got, or not. It helps to remind us of the life we live, the life we want to live and what we want our family to value. It often has more to do with recognition of our openness, our observation and our subsequent interest in being voluntarily involved
Leading by example is not easy, but it’s always worth it.
Happy Travels!
The entrepreneurial mother
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