Travelling internationally provides a unique opportunity for teens to experience and learn to appreciate diversity. Exposing adolescents to different cultures, perspectives, and ways of life can broaden their worldviews. As a parent, you can take steps before, during, and after your trip abroad to encourage your teen to embrace diversity.
Encourage Open-Mindedness Before Departure
Whether your teen is going abroad as part of a family holiday, school trip, or youth group trips, start to create an environment that promotes open-mindedness well before your departure date. Have family discussions about stereotyping and assumptions. Highlight that outward differences often mask shared hopes, fears and life experiences. Model curiosity about other backgrounds, customs and viewpoints. Check any subtle messages you may send about ‘normal’ or ‘better’ ways of living. Supply context to prevent culture shock abroad.
Remind your teen that norms are cultural, not universal truths. Suggest trying new foods with an open palate, and shed preconceived notions about how others will behave or think.
Maximise Cross-Cultural Interactions
Once you are abroad, maximise your teen’s exposure to diversity within your destination country. Seek authentic connections that illuminate daily life there.
Arrange a homestay with a local family, even for a few nights. Volunteer at a community centre or place of worship. Visit open-air markets teeming with residents, not just tourists. Have your teen assist in simple interactions like ordering takeaway or asking for directions.
During cross-cultural encounters, let your teen take the lead conversing. Allow awkward pauses instead of jumping in. Display interest by asking thoughtful questions then intently listening instead of comparing. Thank new contacts for broadening your perspectives.
Process Each Experience
After meaningful intercultural experiences, carve out reflective time. Have your teen journal about interactions using guiding questions. What surprised you? What challenged your assumptions? What connections did you feel despite differences? How might context explain contrasting choices?
Discuss your teen’s reflections over a meal or during travel. Share your own takeaways without judging theirs as right or wrong. Explore grey areas that lack definitive good versus bad stances. Unpack complexities that underline surface variances between cultures.
Get Involved in Community Activities
While you are abroad, look for opportunities for your teen to participate in local community activities and events. Attend a school concert or play, help out at a community garden, or volunteer at a fundraiser. These types of grassroots activities provide a window into the day-to-day lives of local residents. They allow your teen to form connections through shared experiences, not just observations from the outside.
Getting involved also reduces the sense of ‘otherness’. Working together on a common cause or project emphasises similarities over differences. Your teen may gain an appreciation that while customs vary between cultures, people intrinsically yearn for the same basic needs – creativity, self-expression, health, purpose, and human connection.
The benefits of overseas travel for teens extend far beyond sightseeing. The real adventure involves engaging meaningfully with diversity. By encouraging your teen to approach differences with empathy, suspend judgement and seek common ground, you can turn a holiday into an open-minded journey toward greater intercultural appreciation. The souvenir that lasts a lifetime is an expanded world perspective.