We travelers often ask ourselves: “Are people more alike than we are different?”

As Brent and I travel, one way I’ve seen how people of different cultures are very much alike is how they treat their kids. The whole world doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, obviously, but everyone seems to love their children very much.

I even have photographic evidence.

*This toddler in Como, Italy, didn’t want to let go of daddy.*

It doesn’t matter the country or the culture — kids are kids wherever you venture.

*This little girl in Sarajevo has quite a windup going on!*

And parents are parents. There is definitely something wonderfully life-affirming about watching children and their parents together.

*I bet there were scenes exactly like this in Diocletian’s Palace in Split, Croatia, 1,500 years ago.*

I only have a single memory of my maternal grandmother, who died when I was four. So I find something very special in seeing smiling grandmas with their grandkids.

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A smiling grandmother stands with her three-year-old grandson sitting on a rocking chair. — *This Romanian grandmother is happy to pose, but her grandson is a bit more suspicious.*

I don’t think I see as many kids in America as I do outside of the country.

*Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was a wonderful mix of families.*

Outside of America, kids seem to me to be more integrated into their communities, even in big cities.

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A group of very young children holding hands and walking through a park with their adult guardians. — *The best thing about the many kids we saw in Prague was their innocence and lack of self-consciousness.*

I don’t think Americans love their kids any less. But Americans live differently than most of the rest of the world. They spend much more time in their cars, and people seem busier too. And in the U.S., the lives of children sometimes seem just as harried and tightly scheduled as their parents.

*I loved watching this mother following her laughing baby crawl through the leaves in a park in Prague.*

Outside of America, I think people and their children spend more time in public places (where I’m more likely to notice them). America seems to have fewer such places, and they’re less centralized. And in the suburbs, Americans are maybe more content to keep their kids at home, in their bigger houses and private backyards.

*These twins in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, were adorable.*

Whatever the reason, I love seen children together with their parents, especially when they really seem to be enjoying each other.

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*A mom showing her kids the street art in Genoa, Italy.*

I also really like seeing fathers very involved with their children.

*A dad walking with his kids in Budapest, Hungary. I loved that the kids didn’t mind holding hands with dad!*

When I was younger, I considered having children one day, and I think I might have made an okay dad. But it wasn’t something Brent wanted, and I’m ultimately very glad we didn’t have them.

Instead, I get to be a godfather and uncle, real and honorary. And as a photographer, I get to enjoy watching people having fun with their own kids.

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Michael Jensen is a novelist and editor. For more about Michael, visit him at MichaelJensen.com.

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