Let’s face it, kids respond to brand recognition. Take a quick inventory of your kid’s favorite things and more than you’d like to admit will involve a Disney or NickJr reference. If you are shaking your head and insisting that your child is only interested in astrophysics, go read someone else’s blog.

Your interests may be different from a toddler’s, so your reasons for getting excited about a trip would surely be different too.

There are two ways that I use to get my little one psyched up for an adventure.

Make Your Trip Famous

Start mentioning your trip as soon as possible. “I can’t believe we are going to see giant buddhas in Japan!” “I’m getting so excited to look for elves in Iceland. How many do you think we’ll find?” Look at the map and point out where you’re going. How will you get there? What will you see?

Go get a couple of books or movies to add color and texture to the place. There’s a treasure trove on YouTube. Now the destination is real.

Before we got to Iceland last fall, we learned about geysers and when we saw them it was like walking into the pages of a book. It added a layer of excitement.

Make It Relevant

Take what your child already loves and make a connection to your trip. You can make relevant connections anywhere. My daughter loves My Little Pony so we were getting pretty psyched to see real ponies in Iceland. And each European castle can surely be considered the real true home of one Disney princess or another.

This not only makes the trip more relevant to your child, but I found that it really helped the memories stick.

But more than anything, your child wants your attention. So whatever you get psyched about before, during and after your trip…do it together and it will make an impact.