Raising Brave Kids: What Adventure Teaches Children That School Alone Can't

This post is all about how adventure and travel can help raise brave kids -- which is something we need more of in this crazy world. 

That day at Charco Azul reminded me why raising brave kids isn’t about lectures — it’s about adventure, discomfort, and learning through travel.

Bravery Isn’t Taught—It’s Practiced

To celebrate the new year, we went on an adventurous hike in Vega Baja: Charco Azul. It's not very long, but it involves some swimming through a river. With a two year old and an almost four year old, that can be rather daunting. 

Safe chance to practice bravery

Our two year old, E, enjoyed hiking and demanded breaks when he was scared. Then came the part where he and I had to swim across the river. We had life jackets and were using our lillebaby carrier. We have done other hikes similar to this. They were safe, but it was scary. 

Before we followed H and Al across the water, he and I talked about what being brave means. Sometimes being brave means trying something that scares us. We even talked about moments when they were brave. Our oldest was primed and ready -- the cold water was no match for him, but our youngest was still hesitant.

Moments like this are why I believe raising brave kids isn’t about pushing fear away — it’s about giving children safe chances to practice moving through it.

Little E conquered his fear bravely on the way through the water to the cave. The way back was another story. 

His older brother and dad were going to swim up and explore the cave a bit more. E was ready to throw rocks in the river and get dry. It was time to swim back across and to be brave. 

E was ready to play and be dry, but he was not ready to face his fear of the deep water again. As I started getting in the cold river, he started whimpering. "Remember," I whispered over my shoulder to my baby on my back, "we are brave." 

As I started swimming across the river, I could hear him whisper in a scared whimper, "I am brave." He whispered it over and over until I was walking up the bank. 

Then, he exclaimed in surprise, "We did it!"

I am brave... I am brave...

It was like the little engine that could -- La locamotora pequena -- chugging across the water. I'm so proud of my brave little boy. 

Adventure and travel play a powerful role in child development. School teaches children how to learn. Adventure teaches them how to live.

Routine, learning, etc. is important, but so is cultivating  bravery, adaptability, and curiosity. Read on. See what I mean.

What We Mean by “Adventure” (It’s Not Just Planes and Passports)

Often adventuring is equated to travel, but it goes beyond planes, trains, and passports. Adventuring is all about finding growth and can happen close to home or across the world. It's about embracing hardship and curiosity, and exploring beyond comfort zones. 

Adventure Is a Mindset, Not a Mileage Count

Every time children leave the familiar, they practice bravery. Sometimes it is cold, deep water and other times it is a play date with a new friend. There are lots of things that can expand comfort zones. Framing it as adventure, is my favorite way.

Adventures don't need to be trips to Brasil or cruises across the Caribbean. Some things that are adventures for us include: 

• Asking for help from a service worker (all by yourself)
• Exploring a brand new park
• Trying to make a new friend
• Visiting grandparents or cousins
• Day trips to beaches, forests, or mountains
• Camping, ferry rides, road trips
• Travel when possible (one of our favorite ways to embrace adventure!)

Let's break it down a little more. 

Adventure Teaches Bravery Through Real Discomfort

To state the obvious, going beyond one's comfort zone is just that, uncomfortable. It is something that is hard to encourage as a mom, as well. I mean, all I really want is to curl up on the sofa and eat snacks all day and read. That sounds delightful. 

While I hope my boys appreciate a good piece of chocolate and a story, I also want them to grow to have courage to stand for what is right, speak their minds, and ask questions to understand. 

Bravery Lives in the In-Between Moments

School teaches emotional safety. Adventure builds emotional resilience.

Examples:

• Sleeping in a new place (E's transition to a "Big Boy Bed")
• Trying unfamiliar food, music, cultures
• Navigating new crowds, delays, language barriers
• Traveling and missing home—and being okay anyway

When I think of these examples, I think about how I have been scared. Allowing your children to experience things outside their comfort zone, isn't a free pass for us parents. Often, we have to model that bravery. We don't get to remove our own fears and struggle, we get to model what it looks like to move through it. 

Diving in As a Model for Parenting

When we were on our hike that I mentioned earlier, in the cave, there was a cliff jump. Al and I decided before we even hiked that we'd be jumping in the water, but I didn't realize it was so high. I told my boys that I was nervous -- no. I was scared. I explained, that I wanted to jump anyway and that I might want some encouragement. 

As I approached the ledge, I could hear my oldest start yelling, "Go mom!" and then the younger boy chimed in, "Go MOM!" 

I was terrified. It may have been the tallest cliff jump I've done. Writing about it now even gives me butterflies. Y'all, I did it. 

I moved through my fear to find bravery. 

Exploring Your Community, Builds Community

Something that has been a really big part of my motherhood is finding and building community. It's something that you are forced to do when you live far away from all your family. One thing that I have noticed is the more you explore your community, the more you build it. Local travel with kids — even within your own community — builds belonging.

My boys have grown up walking our neighborhood. They've made friends with our elderly neighbors, found fish in the culvert, know where to find the Papi with avocadoes. In exploring our neighborhood, we have become a more intrinsic part of it. (read more in my post about micro-adventures)

Create little adventures close to you:

• Nature walks in parks
• Exploring new neighborhoods
• Visiting cultural sites
• Attending cultural festivals

It's not just about the vecinos in our neighborhood. Nature-based learning through hikes, beaches, and forests creates embodied confidence, too.

Why Staying Close Still Counts

Giving your children these experiences does so much for kids. Creating some kind of familiar novelty is powerful, it can create opportunities for bravery, building confidence without overwhelming them. 

Sometimes it’s errands. Sometimes it’s cleaning. Sometimes it’s petals under a tree. Let it be an adventure. (From Petals to Playgrounds, Post 8/2025)

Sometimes it still feels like a dream in Puerto Rico. Coming from Wyoming to Puerto Rico really creates a juxtaposition. We had a rough day yesterday and decided to end it at the beach, watching the sunset over the waves was healing. 

Finding ways to explore Puerto Rico has helped us build a community here that empowers my kids to always be learners, explorers, and very brave. 

Visiting Family Teaches Identity and Belonging

Living far away makes visiting family an adventure for sure. Meeting and re-introducing yourself to cousins -- it can be a little scary. To be honest, sometimes I feel a little hurt when family doesn't seem to make an effort to see us. Even that teaches my boys that it is good to be vulnerable even when you get hurt. 

In this way Travel becomes a Way of Knowing Where You Come From

Last time we were in Wyoming, we got to take the boys to the home where I grew up. My oldest marveled at the backyard where I had adventures. He asked me questions about my siblings. We even carefully scaled a tree to get up to the treehouse. 

The little boy also go to play with cousins. My little mama's boy ran around a rodeo with my brother to catch a calf's tale. They won $5 and he still talks about it; even the two year old asks me to go to the rodeo again. They learn to ask for things they need from grandparents -- a great place to learn to advocate. 

You get to play and make mistakes and try again with a group of people that will always love you. It's a beautiful place to practice social and emotional learning. It makes me think:

School teaches social skills.
Travel teaches relational identity.

Part of Something Big

I mean, think about. When we leave Puerto Rico, we are embracing rhythms that are familiar to me but not at all familiar to my boys. We are waking up in 40 degree weather in August and watching the sunset at 9:45PM. 

Visiting family when you live far away means...

• Different family rhythms
• Accents, foods, traditions
• Seeing parents as children in someone else’s home

Visiting family shows children they are part of something bigger than their daily routine, bigger than our home and our neighborhood. They are part of something big. 

Adventuring Teaches Adaptability in a Way School Can’t Replicate

Al and I love travel. So we love traveling with our kids. It isn't a walk in the park. The adventure is just that an adventure. Adventures mean there are obstacles and hard parts. We all get to go through them together. 

When Plans Change, Kids Learn to Change Too

School is predictable.
Travel is not.

If you have ever taken a toddler on a plane, you know it is not predictable no matter how much they love Paw Patrol. When we travel here are some of the lessons kids learn:

• Flexibility
• Problem-solving
• Emotional regulation
• Trusting adults in unfamiliar spaces

I think about when my grandmother died. E was a couple months old and H was two and a half. I dropped Al and H off in Rhode Island and E and I took the cheapest craziest flight to Wyoming. We had delays and heavy layovers and when E and I finally made it, we also had a big drive. We nursed in odd places, skipped naps, and slept hand in hand. He snuggled with aunties and Nana and Papa Joe. 

Al and H went to movies, explored, read stories and relied on Grandma and PopPop. I got pictures of splash parks, cousins, popsicles, and the beach. Adventures together and apart. Exploring was uncomfortable sometimes. It also helped all four of us to be brave.  

This is learning through travel in its most raw form — flexibility in real time.

Try This: 

• Let your child order their own food.
• Explore one new park this month.
• Visit one cultural event in your town.
• Plan one “practice bravery” moment this week.

Adventuring Builds Empathy and Curiosity About the World

I think it is special that my kids love our lives. They love our little house and our chickens. This is their normal. The thing about traveling is that from an early age, kids are able to recognize that our wonderful lives are just that: THEIR normal. They don't apply to everyone. 

Travel and child development are deeply connected. When children experience different environments, they develop empathy and perspective.

Through travel, kids learn:

• Not everyone lives like us
• Different doesn’t mean wrong
• Curiosity beats judgment

Our oldest is constantly aware of our electricity. After we lose power, for weeks and even months later, "Please help the luz to stay on" is a part of every prayer. When we go to visit Nana or Grandma, we know that doesn't need to be a part of our prayers anymore. 

Just visiting another friend who has a pool teaches us that the pool for us is a treat, for them is normal. Travel and experiencing someone else's normal doesn't have to be a trip to Colombia. It can be: 

• Abroad
• In a different town
• In a different household

Ensuring your kids are experiencing cultures and lives different to their own helps them understand their normal and that difference isn't bad. It empowers us as parents to instill our values without discounting other family values. 

You Don’t Have to Be Fearless to Raise Brave Kids

Kids are great. My parents, teachers, in laws always talk about how kids see and hear more than you know. My mother in law explained, "Little elephants have big ears." --and they do. Your kids learn from you. 

Honestly, that gives me crippling anxiety. That is, until I realize that it doesn't mean I have to be perfect, just that my boys see me trying, recovering, repairing, and trying again. They see the process and can be a part of it. 

Let Them See You Try

Let's go back to our river hike. After we got to the cave, there was a spot to do a cliff jump. To be honest, I think I used to be more fearless, but the last few times there was an opportunity to jump, I was pregnant or nursing and not supposed to. I lost a little bit of that devil-make-care persona. 

Honestly, it was a big jump. I was nervous. 

Of course, this jump also came right after we crossed the river and talked about being brave. There were two ways I could spin this. I could say I tried, was too nervous, and may do it next time OR (what I wanted to do) embrace the fear and jump. 

I wasn't nervous. I was terrified. 

My breath caught. My heart was running. I told my boys to count down. They did. 3...2...1... I took a breath and...

I was not feeling brave. I jumped anyway. 

Learning to Choose Bravery

Of course, I want my boys NOT to be adrenaline junkies and jump no matter what. But I also want them to take calculated risks, face their fears, and to choose to be brave. 

I admit,

• I worry
• I overthink logistics
• I feel tired... almost always (but that is a problem for another day)

But:

I go anyway.

I want my boys to see me choosing the kind of life I want, not settling, not enduring, but living -- choosing bravery and adventure. Kids learn bravery by watching you choose it. It is scary. It is terrifying. Jump anyway.

Bravery Is a Family Practice

Travel doesn’t replace school—it completes it.

Adventure teaches:

• Confidence
• Belonging
• Courage
• Wonder

Raising brave kids isn’t about where you go.

It’s about choosing to step beyond what’s comfortable—together 

If you're raising brave kids too, send this to another parent who believes adventure matters. Then choose one small act of bravery this week — and tell me what it is. You can comment here or message me on Instagram. I’d love to hear your story. 

Bonus Challenge: This week, look for one small adventure to practice bravery with your child and share your story in the comments or on Instagram. Tag me! I want to celebrate with you!