Teachings through travel

London Zoo and Hamley's toy store at Christmas, Canal boating in Normandie, weekends away to watch Arsenal play Spurs. Sounds extravagent considering I now live in Australia but these memories are from a time when I lived in the Channel Islands...only 100 miles from the south coast of England and spitting distance to the North West French coast.

These are my most bright and vivid childhood memories - the ones that will stay with me to the grave, the ones that come to mind when I'm asked about my childhood.

By contrast, I can't for the life of me remember whether our family home had nice furniture, the brand of our TV or what kinds of clothes we were dressed in. Material things seem to have come and gone. What appears to have stuck are the experiences and particularly those that happened 'on holiday'.

Ordering 'une baguette' at the boulangerie in St Malo aged 7, helping my dad winch open a lock gate on the Normandie canals aged 11, learning the latest football chant at Highbury, aged 9.

I think these experiences stick because they were all educational yet fun and I think for a child that's exactly what holidays are about. For adults its often about getting away, winding down and switching off - for kids I think its about getting away, winding up and switching on.

So take your kids away as often as you can, see as many interesting places as possible, experience things outside their usual coinditioned sub-urban life. Try to make this the priority, not having the latest toys, video games, car, kitchen or home entertainment system. It doesn't have to be a 'trendy' destination that will impress your friends - the local zoo, a nearby small country town or island will do - just try to fill it with experiences, questions, answers and fun.

They'll thank you for it later.