Although youngsters who don’t travel can become stable Earthlings, I’m convinced traveling is not only healthy for kids, it’s good for their character and soul. It seems experts are coming around to my way of thinking, as well.

Dr. Sylvia Rimm’s current best seller, See Jane Win: The Rimm Report on How 1,000 Girls Became Successful, investigates the similarities in upbringing among successful women in medicine, science, education, the arts, homemaking, law and business. “Winning in competition” was the most frequently mentioned positive childhood experience chosen among the successful women. The second most frequently mentioned childhood experience? Travel.

Dr. Rimm suggests that we can give our daughters the same advantages that today’s successful women enjoyed as children by having high expectations for our girls and by traveling with them as a family or on mother-daughter and father-daughter excursions. Traveling gives girls a sense of adventure and independence and provides enrichment, family bonding and self-confidence, according to Dr. Rimm. By high school, we should encourage independent trips with school groups.

Harriet Brand’s daughter discovered Children’s International Summer Villages, a volunteer peace program, when she was 12. The program takes children abroad to spend several weeks in villages with kids from other countries in an effort to learn other languages and customs and to foster peace. Children stay with kids their own age in the host village, or with a host family who has a child the same age. Now 16, Debby Brand has traveled, by herself, to France, Norway, Brazil and Hungary. According to Ms. Brand, director of public relations of The Princeton Review, daughter Debby has developed a sophistication and maturity because of her travel abroad. “What she has really learned, though, is that people are the same all over the world,” says Ms. Brand. “She has learned to love people from all other countries and value their differences. Even if your child attends a diverse school - kids still separate into groups. But in this situation, they really connect,” Ms. Brand explains. For information on Children’s International Summer Villages, call 888-274-8872 or visit www.cisvusa.org.

Girls aren’t the only ones who benefit from traveling. Ellen Hollon, director of Child Life/Child Development at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, believes that travel addresses all kinds of child development milestones. “There are some very practical and important life lessons your kids learn from traveling like how to handle adversity when the luggage doesn’t get there when you do or how does Mom or Dad handle the situation of getting lost in a strange place,” says Ms. Hollon. “Then there’s the benefit of reinforcement of history and making school lessons come alive. If you travel to a place that’s very different from where you live, children’s perception expands.” Ms. Hollon explains. She notes that older kids can help to plan a trip, read up on destinations and use the computer for research - all great supports to academic and life skills. “My dad made me the navigator, and I think that’s why I have a great sense of direction and can really read a map today!” laughed Ms. Hollon. Visiting other places and cultures can help teens focus in on their interests and strengths.

“Travel can give teens exposure to career options,” adds Ms. Hollon, “and they have their interests piqued in ways they haven’t been piqued before.”

Teen Debby Brand’s goal today is to become a member of “Doctors Without Borders,” physicians who travel the world to help others. “Had she not traveled abroad, she wouldn’t have come to this decision,” her mother proudly explains.

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