Out of his comfort zone

It’s rewarding to see your child’s mind expand when exposing them to new cultural experiences.

We had just finished a first half day in Quebec City. You get everything, as my older son said: mountains, water, castles and walls, history, cannons, street performers, ice cream… So we asked our younger son as we tucked him in that night, whaddya think?

Being the one often unimpressed by change and most likely to want to go home on any vacation, his response was gratifying: his eyes lit up, he wore a confused half-smile, and he said, “It’s so… weird! I feel like such a stranger!”

Throughout the day we saw him interacting with other kids while watching street performers or climbing on monuments. Kids who sometimes didn’t speak English. We saw him marvel at things being done differently, from what comes on a burger, to colored money that you can see through, to the geography of the multi level city, to streets and toilets and customs and faces….

You could just see that his brain had exploded … or at least expanded. He wasn’t sure whether he liked it or not, as it was out of his comfort zone.

Another word for “slightly out of your comfort zone” is “learning.”