How Cross-Cultural Travel Can Turn Children Into Empathetic & Compassionate Adults

One of the best ways to turn your children into empathetic adults is to expose them to other cultures by traveling. Experts believe that cross-cultural experiences can boost people's sense of empathy, compassion, creativity, and connection that he/she can bring into adulthood.

According to Quartz, traveling and interacting with people of other ethnicities introduce children to socioeconomic diversity and cultivate their curiosity for the world. Adam Galinsky, a professor at Columbia Business School, said cross-cultural travel can make kids recognize that there's more to life than their egocentric view of the world.

Galinsky said there are previous studies that found cross-cultural travel boosts perspectives and cognitive flexibility, which helps a person entertain multiple ideas. Denise Daniels, founder and executive director of the nonprofit organization National Childhood Grief Institute, said kids interacting with their peers from around the world can build confidence and respect.

Daniels, however, advised parents to talk to their children before, during, and after their international travels. Those conversations should consist of a country's local customs and beliefs.

Traveling can also help children, especially those living in a wealthy country like the United States, realize how fortunate they are because they have easy access to toys, books, electronic devices, and recreational activities, The Huffington Post reported via LiveFamilyTravel.com. Taking kids to developing nations would instill humility, generosity, and compassion in them and make them realize that not every child in the world has nice clothes, shoes, toys, and sufficient food like them.

Traveling in non-English speaking countries can help children better understand the plight of immigrants in America and in other developed nations, Parenthood.com wrote. Kids get a taste of what it feels like to be an outsider when they visit non-English speaking countries and when they get back home, there's a huge chance that they are less likely to form judgments and stereotypes about people with different accents or nationalities.

Of course, not all families can afford international travel. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, an associate professor of education, psychology and neuroscience at the University of Southern California, said parents can expose their children instead to community organizations or school groups that bring together people from different social and ethnic groups, Quartz added.

Exposure to other cultures via international travel, however, doesn't automatically turn children into an empathetic person. It's more of what they do in those travels that heavily impact kids. Samantha C. Sweeney, a psychologist and founder of the educational company Cultural Competence, said parents should provide children with a meaningful interpretation of why and how their lives differ from other people.