My college-age son is independent and self-sufficient. I owe it all to traveling with him when he was young.

The author traveled with her son since he was a kid.

Courtesy of Erika Ebsworth-Goold

My toddler son wasn't sure what to make of the situation.We'd just finished touring Costa Rica's Manuel Antonio National Park, and were strolling through the adjacent village of Naranjito. He had his trusty stuffed toy, Grover, in tow. It wasn't long before a group of local children spotted it and approached him."Elmo, Elmo," they gleefully shouted. My boy first looked confused, then beamed."It's not Elmo, it's Grover," he exuberantly explained.A friendly conversation all about "Sesame Street" characters ensued. His dad and I watched the bilingual interaction, both bemused and proud.Fast forward more than 15 years. Our then-3-year-old is now a nimble, independent young man attending college nearly 2,000 miles from home.I'm firmly convinced that our early family travels helped shape the confident person he's become.My son took his first trip at 8 months oldThat Costa Rica adventure wasn't the first time we took our son overseas. He's had a passport since he was an infant, and it was first stamped when he was 8 months old. Friends and family thought we were crazy, but we couldn't imagine leaving him behind.Honestly, that initial jaunt was a bit of a nightmare. Our little guy got sick on the transatlantic flight, and we went through an entire pack of diapers plus several sets of clothes to keep him and the folks around us as comfortable as possible given the circumstances.