Why you should take your 5 year old to Europe

If there are people who judge in the world, one or two of them might be judging us for taking our five year old to Europe,  for a number of reasons. Why spend that much money to drag a kid? He won't remember anything? Why aren't you bringing his brother? Are you sure that is a good plan? Here are the top ten reasons to bring one five year old to Europe:

10.  You really get to know the one kid, spend a ton of QT with that kid, and make it fun for him.

9. You get to do things that you never would have if you didn't have a kid in Europe - but really enjoyed anyway.  I was an art history major in college and even I wanted out of the schonbrunn palace walls and running in the gardens and seeing the zoo.  Hanging with the panda and spending a good ten minutes talking to your five year old about whether the panda thinks in German, Chinese or English, was awesome.

8. When you need a break, they can totally play a video game.  They are with you, they are safe, it is totally normal for you to be in a restaurant at 10pm in Europe while your kid is still awake, and playing a video game.  And the time change helps this craziness to boot!

7. They do get it. Maybe not on the level you get it, but on another more important level.  As soon as Joel heard someone speaking another language, as soon as he realized the cars were different, their apple juice comes in glass bottles - he realized there was more out there.  Ad I was glad.

6. No one is more entertained on the differences of European (or foreign in general) bathrooms than a 5 year old.

5. Making them say "und applesaft bitter" to order their own apple juice, priceless.

4. Every kid should need to take a nap on a restaurant bench, we just needed to take Joelly - the I do not sleep anywhere but my bed kid - 1/2 way around the world to see it happen!

3. The food in Europe is cleaner.  It has less chemicals.  It is more delicious.  And hot chocolate is an acceptable drink at all meals - as is beer.

2. Museums are like massive scavenger hunts.

And the number one reason taking your five year old to Europe is not so bad:

1. If you didn't take him, you probably wouldn't be going yourself.

Other things didn't mention:
Trains everywhere!
Europe has kids too!