CNN asked its readers to share their successes traveling with their children. Almira Coronado and her husband took their daughter, Michelle, to Italy when she was 5, where her most memorable moment was feeding the pigeons at Piazza San Marco in Venice. "My husband and I really try to explain new things to Michelle so that she knows what to expect or at least has a better understanding of what's going on."
Courtesy Almira Coronado
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"From the moment we boarded the plane, she was excited to visit an island," says Derrick Norris, who took his 5-year-old daughter, Alyssa, to the Virgin Islands in 2012. "Once we arrived, she noticed that cars drive on the left side of the road. There were giant lizards crawling on sidewalks. Nothing brought joy to my heart more than when she finally was able to see the ocean. It was a trip she still reminisces about today."
Courtesy Derrick Norris
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Mary-jo Roth says her family went to Iceland for the adventure. "To make the trip special we made sure the kids were active participants." John, then age 6, got to choose some of their activities, including hiking a volcano.
Courtesy Mary-jo Roth
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Doug Simonton took his daughter, Shannon, on a father-daughter trip to Washington when she was was 9. This was her first airplane takeoff. "To see your child discover something for the first time is one of life's great joys," he says.
Courtesy Doug Simonton
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Isabella was 3 and Alexander was 5 when Thomas Yu and his wife took their kids to Moscow. "The unfortunate reality is that for people that do not currently have kids, they will not understand and feel agitated when for example, kids cry on the plane. Of course, proper planning will help reduce the discomfort of those around you but will not fully eliminate it."
Courtesy Thomas Yu
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Matt Swyndle and his wife traveled with their daughters Layla, 4, (pictured) and Maren, 2, last summer to Lincoln City, Oregon. His wife had been there with her own family as a child.
Courtesy Matt Swyndle
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Quia Querisma has taken her kids to New York every year since they were babies to see her extended family, This trip, when Quiana was 8 and Brandon was 6, was the first time they were able to remember all the tourist sites.
Courtesy Quia Querisma
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Scott Ribich and his wife took their two sons to Machu Picchu when they were 1 and 3 years old. "Traveling with young children and spending time on the playgrounds with the local children and meeting the kids and their families is something you don't normally get to do when you are just two adults traveling somewhere."
Courtesy Scott Ribich
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Gracen Stewart says 5 or 6 years old is when kids start to notice where they are "and can actually enjoy it." Her son, Julian, was 6 when she took him to South Padre Island, Texas. "The greatest part of this trip was seeing how happy he was," she said. "He was able to jump around in the ocean and he loved it. We would walk out and as I held his hand, we'd both jump and let the waves knock us over."
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"My two favorite memories of Timmy (then age 2) was how hard he was laughing and how much he was enjoying himself chasing all the pigeons at the Louvre and how I climbed the 43 stories of the Eiffel Tower with him on my shoulders ... even though he was asleep for most of it," wrote his dad, Lee Huffman.
Courtesy Lee Huffman
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Georgette Alithinos said when she and her husband took their 10-month-old son, Alexander, to Villa d'Este in Lake Como, Italy, he loved the trip. She thinks toddlers do benefit from travel, even if they don't remember anything. "The experiences stay with them subconsciously and it does enrich their development and shapes their character, whether they remember or not."
Courtesy Georgette Alithinos
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Christian Perry drove all through the night with his 5-year-old daughter, Catherine, for her first trip to the ocean. They went to the same beach in Ocean City, Maryland, that his dad took him to when he was a kid. "I hadn't been to the beach since before she was born because I wanted to wait until she was old enough to share in the experience with me," he said. "Watching her stare at the big blue sea allowed me to see the ocean through her eyes, and that was a moment as a father that I will never forget." Perry's iReport inspired this story.
