In commemoration of World Children's Day on Nov. 20, G Adventures conducted a panel discussion underscoring the importance of protecting children in the countries around the world.
The panel, which was part of the company's Retravel Live series, featured G Adventures Founder Bruce Poon Tip; Heather Greenwood-Davis, a family travel specialist and contributing editor to National Geographic; Maria Pieri, editorial director for National Geographic Traveller UK; and Sebastien Marot, executive director of the ChildSafe Movement.
"More than anything, travelers need advice on appropriate ways to help, and information on who to contact to react to children in danger," said Marot, whose ChildSafe Movement joined forces with G Adventures in 2018 to create Child Welfare Guidelines.
One such guideline is "not giving to begging children or treating children like tourist attractions," he said.
"I try to think about it in the same way I think about my own children," said Greenwood-Davis. "How would I feel if someone came through and started handing them money on the street? How would I feel if somebody dropped a bag of candy off and sort of left them to it. If we think about the world's children like our own children, we'll be better."
Educating children to help them build a global perspective need not initially involve travel. "You can still travel with purpose by exploring local woods and parks and looking into their culture and history," and "watching nature documentaries like David Attenborough's Life on our Planet" on National Geographic channel [or] making that amazing pasta you had in Italy," Pieri said.
Added Greenwood-Davis, "Whether it's Gen Z, or whatever comes after Gen Z, I think [children] already have a global mindset. These are kids who have heroes in Greta Thunberg and the Malalas of the world. They are already thinking about those big issues and that is going to impact where their parents take them on vacation."
In the final analysis, Poon Tip believes parents would be well-served to initiate conversations with kids about the cultural differences in destinations visited both before and after trips.
"When your kids get older you start seeing the benefits that travel has had in terms of their global view of things. Travel is transformational," he said. "It's not necessarily always in the moment. It's when you come home. It's when you grow up. It's knowing your place in the universe when you witness how other people live in the world."
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