I Can Show You the World

Before I was a mommy, I was a traveler. A backpack- wearing, hippy hostel lodger evolved into a suitcase-rolling (still overpacking and hauling that backpack), decent hotel guest. After my husband discovered the world of points and miles, all bets were off. We went everywhere, flew first class, sipped Dom Perignon and Krug and stayed in all the nicest places.

In 2018, baby made three and we didn’t slow down (don’t worry, the Champagne did). Before our son turned two, he had been on 90 flights, visited Hawaii more times (4) than most people will in a lifetime, made his rounds to meet family members across the country and napped his way across four different continents.

Enter 2020. The year the world froze for so many. Covid-19 put a damper on any travel plans we had and secured us firmly in place at home. In retrospect, lockdown has turned out to be a fantastic time to have a baby. I spent the better part of the year pregnant and we welcomed our second son in September of 2020. Traveling with a newborn and a crazy toddler would have been undoubtedly difficult, so in a way I have valued our time at home for many reasons. We have been able to shelter in relative safety sans FOMO. No one, (well, besides the Kardashians) is really going anywhere, so it doesn’t feel like we are being held back in that regard. This time has also given our older son ample time to explore at home and continue building faith and security in the world around him, which is so very important for little people. That said, I can’t wait for the day when the world opens up again and we can venture out as a family safely.

At home, I’ve tried very hard to work on a daily schedule and try to stick to it as much as possible. Everything was going pretty smoothly and then kid #2 came and any semblance of a routine went out the window. I remember telling my husband, half joking and half fighting back tears,  “I don’t know how you are going to go back to work. You’re going to have to quit your job and we’re going to live on welfare.” Going from one to two kids momentarily knocked the wind right out of me. I blame healing, hormones and lack of sleep. If you’re a mama, you’ve been there. I don’t need to tell you twice.

I bask in the afterglow of amazing days where both kids are mostly happy and everything goes as smoothly as I can expect, only for my flame to be extinguished by a flood of toddler tears that seem to flow faster than a raging river. There are days where I am super mom and my cape waves triumphantly in the breeze. And of course, some days are brought to you mostly by Disney + or YouTube. It’s all about balance and trying your hardest. Whatever that amount is might vary from day to day, but the key is to do your best.

One thing that I have incorporated into my day is to make sure that my son(s) learns something new every day. This doesn’t have to be profound. Of course, at this age kids are learning all the time. They learn through play, through books, through conversation – everything. However, each day I take the time to make sure that I teach him or show him at least one thing that is new to him. You may have guessed that many days, this new piece of trivia or knowledge is somehow linked to the world and/or travel.

I’m sure you’ve heard that a child’s brain is like a sponge. Provide it with knowledge and it will just soak, soak, soak it up. This has been one of the things I’ve enjoyed most as a parent and hopefully you have too!

Geography is one subject I’ve found to be surprisingly easy to teach to a toddler. Just like letters, numbers, colors and shapes,  geography is all about pure memorization. There isn’t anything abstract or inherently difficult about it. My son has been working on memorizing the states in the US for about 4 months now. He just turned three and when asked can point to most of the states on a map with about 85% accuracy. I bought a set of placemats off Amazon which serve the dual purpose of keeping the table clean(ish) and having a built in lesson plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I have played games with him with mini-M&M’s or goldfish on each state and he can eat them when he reveals the correct state. A little Pavlov-dogish, but it works and he has tons of fun doing it. These days, it’s mostly his suggestion – “let’s do States, Mommy!” Don’t worry, I don’t do the snacks every time! There is also a placemat of the world, so we use that to talk about continents. We also have placemats for space, body parts, letters, colors and shapes, so he can pick his poison for each meal.

Just like teaching anything else, repetition in different forms is important. Below are some things we have around the house and use to help teach Geography:

1. We are a traveling family. We have a HUGE, beautiful map of the world in our living room.
2. For Christmas, we gifted our son a pillow globe that we throw around, kick, lay on etc. Most of the time, we don’t use this for “lessons,” but every now and then we sneak some things in. It’s also just kind of fun to throw the world around.
3. We also have a blow up globe that we use to kick around outside and throw in the water.
4. For Christmas this year, our son received a Leapfrog SmartGlobe. This thing is seriously AWESOME! You use a stylus to click on different areas of the globe and can learn about countries, animals, continents, geology and more. Our son loves this. We do a little bit of the globe each night. This is a quiet, relaxing activity he can do alone in his room as well now that he doesn’t nap.
5. He has a cute floor rug that is a map of the world. It’s soft, colorful and has different animals all around it. Since kids have a fascination with animals, teaching them where different animals live can help make that relationship even easier for them.
6. YouTube. Almost daily, I incorporate a random video into our talks about different places. Jazz in New Orleans, SCUBA diving in Australia, surfing in Hawaii, making pasta in Italy. The key is finding videos of things they are interested in (sports, food, animals etc.) and putting togethers those connections of what happens where.
7. Books, Books and more books. My husband jokes that we have more children’s books than the library – and we might, but I’m a believer in the power of books! I wholeheartedly believe that our little man knows so many words and facts from books and things we’ve read together. There are just so many vocabulary words and scenarios that come up in books that just wouldn’t in conversation, even if you talked from sun up to sun down, which we do sometimes. We try to pick up a related book when we visit someplace memorable. I think writing something inside the jacket or taping a picture of the family inside is a nice keepsake that will be appreciated down the road. Some other favorites in the rotation include:  P is for Passport. Oh, the Places You’ll Go, Where Would Santa Go ( Perfect for Christmas!), Look Inside Our World, National Geographic Little Kids First Big book of the World – I could go on and on.

The last book listed has maps of each continent along with vibrant pictures, facts and fun passages to read. Our guy has taken a particular liking to South America and loves to say the country names after me. It helps to be silly when talking about places too. “BIIIIIG BRAZIL, Itty-bitty Uruguay.” I recently asked my husband if he thinks it’s realistic to teach our son all the countries in the world by 4. I have NO idea if it is or not, but I’m going for it. I’ll follow his lead, kill’em with praise and keep making it as entertaining as I can. Figure out what your kid likes and do something similar. Let them guide you. You know what they say, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. If you keep the wheels up top spinning, the sky’s the limit. Ready for takeoff?