I spent the months leading up to our trip reading up on all things Spain. I always like to get a little familiar with the societal norms of a country ahead of time. For me, it’s essential information because it’s key knowledge in order to feel confident going somewhere entirely new.

I don’t know what others in my shoes would do if surprised with a trip to Japan with only 24 hours advance notice to prepare. Honestly, I would likely panic a little first. But once that panic turned the corner into excitement, I would spend my prep time focused on these key things 1.) strategic packing 2.) learning about Japanese customs 3.) memorizing a few Japanese greetings and phrases.

Fortunately, we had more than 24 hours to prepare for our trip to Spain. We had a few months. Other than committing to a flight plan (departure and arrival- day/time/airport), we had not planned the specifics for our roadtrip. We didn’t yet know which cities we’d like to stop in, or which route we would take.

In this case, information about the traditions, culture and food was picked up simultaneously while deciding our stops.

We intentionally have these conversations with the kids around. We let them be part of the planning process, which they can really get into. These days, my son likes to review our travel plans on a map and my daughter loves to watch travel vlogs with me and learn about places. When the kids are part of the planning, they become invested. Stakeholders. Knowledgeable.

As part of that involvement, they will naturally have questions about things. Especially when you point out unique things about where you’re going- like: “Did you guys know that most people eat dinner in Spain at 10 PM at night? Even the kids!” And then we’re off into a discussion about what kind of food we will eat and what types of places we will explore.

(Note: Toys, games and other resources that we use with the kids to help them get familiar with Spanish are linked at the end of this article)

It’s particularly helpful to talk about the food in advance. In my experience, setting expectations with the kids about meals ahead of time is key. We talk about what types of food people normally eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We talk about what people drink at meals. We talk about some of the local vegetables, fruits, foods, etc, that they aren’t familiar with here in the US. Lastly, we talk about manners at the table, and being open to try new things. We have these conversations before every single trip we take and trust me, they make a difference.

Talking about types of food they might order will naturally lead the conversations into how we will communicate. When going to a country where English is not the primary language, like Spain, we talk about how cool it is that they use different words than us. My kids always get excited about this part. My daughter will usually be the first one to ask: “how do I say hello in their language?” Which turns into a fun little back and forth game of remembering words like hello, good-bye, thank you, please.

Spanish was not going to be entirely new for them to hear (I’ve read bilingual books to them before). My daughter had Spanish class at her elementary school. So she already new some words and was now trying to teach them to her brother.

As I would listen to “spanglish” podcasts or watch a telenovela, the kids naturally became exposed to more and more of the language. Their interest really took off once we started listening to a cute Spanish podcast for kids. And they rediscovered a couple of their Toni Box characters that included Spanish tracks. [Check out the Language Learning page for other children’s resources]

Learning new Spanish words together each day made it fun and helped us stay consistent. It also amped up the anticipation of our upcoming adventure. If they weren’t in the mood for listening to Spanish, I didn’t push it. It’s important that language learning stay fun for them. Don’t treat it the same way you would schoolwork. No pressure.

The unexpected result is that they get into it and excited about it on their own. I mean, there’s a reason why we made up gibberish languages as kids (Pig Latin anyone?). Using a different language is really cool!