Monet Hambrick, an avid traveler, chronicles her family’s vacations on her blog, The Traveling Child. Her children, Jordyn, 10, and Kennedy, 8, have done activities like hang gliding, which she is terrified of. She has been attacked online. She lets them do it, but she believes fear is being taught.
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This told essay is based on a conversation with Monet Hambrick, a 36-year-old travel blogger based in Florida. Monet Hambrick shares itineraries and tips for traveling with kids on her blog, The Traveling Child. Monet has two daughters with her husband, James Hambrick. Jordyn, 10, and Kennedy, 8. Monet has visited 50 countries in her life and her daughters have visited over 35 countries. The following has been edited. length and clarity.
When I was in high school, I received a scholarship through a program called the International Living Experiment.
During the summer, I lived with a host family in a village in Botswana who treated me like their own daughter.
Learning about their culture, food, and language, as well as having the opportunity to explore and camp in the Okavango Delta and go to Chobe National Park, has had a huge impact on how I choose to travel with my family today.
My husband and I met in college at the University of Florida. We have been traveling together ever since we started dating.
When we had kids, everyone thought, “Now that I have kids, I won’t be able to travel anymore.” And we were like, “Have we met?”
Travel penetrates us, within ourselves.
I let my kids do adventurous activities that they wouldn’t want to do on their own.
I’m definitely the one planning our trip.
An adventure? That’s my husband.
I don’t do anything crazy. I don’t like roller coasters. I don’t like heights.
We went ziplining in Costa Rica many years ago. Halfway through the zipline there was a Tarzan swing where they hooked you and then let you go. I almost cried during the zip line, so I definitely didn’t do the Tarzan swing.
My eldest daughter said, “I want to do it.”
Monet’s husband took their daughters shark cage diving to see great white sharks in South Africa. traveling child
We let her do it. After finishing, she said, “I was a little sick to my stomach, but I’m glad I did it.”
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When we went to Cape Town in 2022, my husband and daughters went shark cage diving. They were 6 and 8 years old.
I stayed on the boat and took photos and videos from the safety of the boat.
Monet doesn’t want her daughters, who zip-lined and hand-glided during the trip, to share her fears. traveling child
They were 5 and 7 years old when we went hang gliding in Orlando.
Typically, when you hang glider, you run down the mountain. There are no mountains in Florida.
The way they do hang gliding there is literally attaching a hang glider to a single propeller airplane. Planes take off and hang gliders take to the air. Once you reach a certain height, your guide will remove your hang glider from the plane and begin your free-fall descent.
I didn’t, but they loved it. When my second daughter came down, she said, “I want to go again.”
People can judge, but I don’t want my children to share my fear
In certain situations, fear can prevent you from having a great experience.
If something is deemed safe and my kids want to do it, I’ll let them do it.
Sometimes I get criticized online for that.
However, if it is possible to do so safely, I would like to give them that experience. That’s our philosophy.
If you keep saying no because you’re scared, in the future you’ll be scared to do all the things you weren’t scared of before.
I strongly believe that fear can be taught. The last thing I wanted to do was instill fear in my children just because I was scared of something.
