If you could spend a year traveling with your family, where would you go and why?
Even though my oldest son is not yet two and a half years old, he is already rather well-traveled. Together, we have crisscrossed the U.S. visiting family and friends, and last year we even went to Paris! While there, we hiked all over the city, climbed up inside dizzying cathedral spires, took a moonlit cruise on the Seine, and spent untold hours in museums -- and everything was as easy and exciting as could be. Traveling with a toddler was made infinitely more enjoyable thanks to babywearing.
Not only do I dream of traveling far and wide with my family for fun (and the ultimate unschooling experience!) I actually have often envisioned taking them on a worldwide babywearing tour.
My idea began with a more locally-inspired concept: I planned to start a street style blog (in the spirit of blogs like The Sartorialist, or Face Hunter) focused exclusively on the colorful, beautiful, stylish babywearing I see around me all the time in New York. However, my vision soon expanded: Why not travel the world seeking such images? One day I hope to meet and document women all over the world going about their lives, wearing their children, and being fabulous.
Over the course of one year, I would love to visit cultures that still predominantly wear their youngsters. As my family and I circle the globe, we would research more about local customs and traditions of babywearing by observing, interviewing, and getting to know people who babywear. I want to learn firsthand about the many forms of baby carriers that are out there and how they are made and worn. I would, of course, document the entire experience on my blog in photos, video, and words, and at the end of the journey I would turn it all into a book celebrating the gorgeous, proud and vibrant art of babywearing.
I love to collect beautiful images of babywearing, and the ones that I have seen from distant places always inspire me and make me determined to act on my idea of an international babywearing tour. Here are some of my favorite photos, along with the places they might one day take me (click on the name of the country to see the photo source)...
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