Worldschooling: Keeping Kids Safe While Traveling
It’s common to feel more vulnerable on the road than at home. After all, you’re in unfamiliar surroundings and can’t rely on your normal routines. You’ll be going to new places, interacting with new people, and doing new things—sometimes dangerous things—and it’s easy to imagine potential risks and pitfalls. Annika describes this as “having my hackles up.”
But for many travelers, that’s exactly the point of being out in it. There’s a delicate balance between being careful and remaining open to experiences, and there are ways to plan ahead so that you can enjoy being in the moment. Also, kids will pick up your cues; be aware of what you transmit, and encourage open dialogue.
Staying Found
Kids like to wander and explore, and as worldschoolers, we want to give them space and freedom when we can. To help keep track of their whereabouts, here are some tips:
* Know where you’re going and help your kids get familiar with your destinations before you arrive.
* Teach them to freeze when they are lost or hear your voice from afar.
* Make sure everyone knows their identifying information—their full name, plus your name and cell phone number. If a kid can’t relay this information, write it on their arm, have them wear an ID bracelet, or put a card in their pocket.
* Role-play asking for assistance.
* Have a contingency plan in case the family gets separated—choose a meeting spot and make sure your kids know who to approach for assistance.
* If your kids have cell phones, add key contacts to their phones and enable location tracking; show them how to turn on cellular coverage and make that expensive call if you get separated.
Nature and Animals
Many kids like to pet animals. Unfortunately, any animal can be dangerous. In the US, it’s common to see posted rules, signs, and physical boundaries that control for most of the risk, but that’s not true everywhere. Teach your kids never to approach or feed wild animals, even if the animal approaches them and seems friendly, and talk together about safe distances. Help kids understand that the best thing they can do for wildlife is to stay away from them and not contribute to their harmful taming. If anyone in your family does experience a bite, scratch, or other animal-related injury, seek medical attention.
Natural Disasters
Travelers should research a destination’s risk for natural disasters before visiting. Travel alerts and disaster threat information can be found on the US Department of State website listed in the resources section. Events such as tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis can injure large numbers of people, disrupt local services, and catalyze the spread of disease, and it’s wise to avoid areas during high-risk seasons. If you are in an area of risk, learn the local warning systems, evacuation routes, and gathering locations. Carry important identification and travel documents and a list of emergency contacts, and talk through your response plan as a family. If disaster does strike, pay attention to what the locals are doing and follow their lead.
Political Unrest
As with natural disasters, it’s important to research current events and be informed about the likelihood of political unrest in your destinations prior to travel. Understanding the history, culture, and politics of your intended destinations is a helpful start, and you can gain additional perspective from the US State Department country reports and Amnesty International’s annual report on human rights.
Avoid known conflict zones whenever possible. Have a family response plan in place ahead of time, and if you do encounter protests once you are on the ground, leave the area immediately and seek safe shelter. Regardless of how you feel about the demonstration’s aim, don’t participate—as a visitor, you may not fully understand its reasons or risks, and even attempting to photograph or record the events may be illegal or inflammatory to the participants. Confirm exit plans and identify transportation contingencies in case your first option gets shut down. To keep abreast of status changes, follow trusted news sources and your local embassy online.
Use Embassies as a Resource
If you have a true emergency or serious safety concern, your embassy should get involved—quickly. That’s its job.
The main purpose of an embassy is to assist its citizens who live in or are traveling in the host country. The embassy staff can usually assist you if you’ve been the victim of a crime or are seriously ill or injured, although the level of service varies by country. It’s important to know that if you travel to a high-risk area, you may not have embassy coverage, so it’s a good idea to research this in advance.
Always carry the contact information for the local embassy with you, and don’t hesitate to call upon its services if you need it. In fact, many embassies prefer that you register with them upon arrival so they know where you’re planning to go and can be on the lookout for any potential problems. Some request that you enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
Contingency Scenarios
Another way to prepare yourself mentally and physically is by running through worst-case scenarios, maybe with your partner or family, and creating corresponding contingency plans. In his book *The Last Lecture*, based on his famous presentation, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” Randy Pausch calls this the “eaten by wolves factor.” You can run scenarios ranging from a missing passport to a lost kid. You can also think through what you’d do in various types of medical emergencies, which came in handy when Angela got altitude sickness in the middle of Lake Titicaca. (By the way, her kids love to tell that story, mostly because it gives them a chance to say *Lake Titicaca* repeatedly.)
Staying safe on the road doesn’t mean saying no to adventure—it means being ready, staying aware, and empowering your kids to explore with confidence. Hopefully these tips help you along the way!
