My children have always just followed me around like little ducklings. This is especially true about airports, where they just blindly followed and copied everything their dad and I were doing. I’m positive they didn’t give the process any thought.

During one trip, I realized that our parental guidance had been severely lacking in this area. Our son was approaching adulthood at full speed so I decided to teach him the basics.

I started giving him tips about the gates, how to check in, how to read the monitors, etc. I told him that every airport was different and the ones where English isn’t the first language can be especially nerve-wracking. I explained that, except people who travel for a living, NO ONE knows where the hell they are going or what they are doing in an unfamiliar airport. I told him to stop and look around and get his bearings because all airports, for the most part, are designed in the same layout. It was key to ask for help!

After all this, he asked, tentatively: “Am I going somewhere?”

Poor kid! I guess I was laying the instruction on a little thick!

No, he wasn’t going anywhere at that time; but, when he did a year later (to the U.K. — solo), he knew damn well how to navigate through an airport!