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By the time most children are tackling multiplication tables, Wilder McGraw had already seen all seven continents — Antarctica included.
The milestone wasn’t half of some color-coded parenting grasp plan, insists journey author Jordi Lippe-McGraw.
It was an accident that snowballed into a household quest — one that ended with the Upper West Sider’s 7-year-old wobbling across Antarctic ice this fall, wide-eyed and bundled up.
“We didn’t start out with the intention of raising a child who would see seven continents by 7,” Lippe-McGraw, 39, told The Post. “We were just traveling because that’s who we are and what we love.”
The lightbulb second got here when Wilder was 5.
While most children are busy shedding tooth and studying the ABCs, Wilder McGraw was busy stamping his passport on all seven continents — including Antarctica (above). Jordi Lippe-McGraw
As Lippe-McGraw and her husband, Ross McGraw, casually tallied the locations they’d been with their son forward of a journey to South America, they realized he’d already visited 5 continents.
“My husband stared at the list and said, ‘Well … we might as well finish it.’”
Born to roam
Wilder McGraw was racking up passport stamps before he may babble. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
Wilder’s passport bought its first stamp early — very early. He was just 8 weeks outdated when the household flew to Portugal in August 2018. Caribbean islands, Canada and Mexico adopted before his second birthday, when the pandemic grounded their globe-trotting.
Once the world reopened, the Lippe-McGraws have been back in movement. There was Nevis, a tiny island in the Caribbean Sea, at age 3, more Caribbean stops, Costa Rica, Dubai and a safari in Zambia by age 4. Europe got here next — France, Switzerland, Scotland, Ireland and Italy — plus the Galápagos, all before he turned 5.
This past summer time sealed the deal: Amsterdam, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand knocked out continent No. 6. In November, Antarctica turned the remaining frontier.
For Lippe-McGraw, a former Post author, the icy trek was deeply personal. Antarctica had been her own seventh continent — visited while she was 5 months pregnant with Wilder. Coming back with him seven years later felt, she said, “like closing a loop we didn’t know we’d opened.”
The household set sail for the ice-covered ends of the Earth aboard Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic’s Resolution ship — a bucket-list cruise to a continent with more penguins than people.
For Wilder, the journey got here with a candy shock: He bonded with the only other child on board, an 8-year-old woman, while a resident researcher whisked the pair off each day for hands-on classes — half science class, half Antarctic journey.
Traveling through grief
The household boarded the Resolution ship in November and headed for the frozen backside of the globe — the type of bucket-list journey where penguins outnumber people. Courtesy Jordi Lippe-McGraw
Travel isn’t just an journey for Lippe-McGraw — it’s survival.
She confronted a stunning, profound loss when her father, a medical doctor and a pilot, died in a 2010 aircraft crash. For a time, she was paralyzed by a worry of flying. She may have continued to retreat inward; however, she selected to lean into exploration.
“Instead of closing the door on the world, I found that movement was the thing that helped me feel alive again,” she said.
Loss sharpened her priorities. She needed her son to grow up curious, not cautious; assured, not constrained. “I wanted him to see the world as navigable, not intimidating.”
Watching her son expertise locations she once traveled solo has been surreal. Standing on Antarctic ice — this time with a curious baby instead of a child bump — introduced the feelings crashing in.
“It felt like sharing a private piece of my past with him,” she said, recalling Wilder sliding across sea ice and peppering guides with questions while whales surfaced close by. “It brings a new perspective and appreciation for me.”
‘People see the polished moments’
Jordi Lippe-McGraw, shown with her household in Zambia, told The Post that the household makes use of airline factors to help keep costs down, but estimates they spend around $10,000 a yr on flights. A summer time journey last yr price just over $5,000.
Jordi Lippe-McGraw
For every jaw-dropping vista, there’s a meltdown — and Lippe-McGraw is fast to say social media doesn’t show the full image.
“The exhaustion. The meltdowns. The logistics that unravel at 3 a.m. in an airport,” she said. “People see the polished moments — but not the seasickness, the crying over airplane food or the child insisting he will ‘never wear snow pants again.’”
There have been Antarctic days when Wilder lay immobile in his bunk for 36 hours, terrified of throwing up again. Snacks have been negotiated “like hostage deals.”
“It’s unglamorous and chaotic and sometimes deeply uncomfortable,” she said — yet one way or the other, that makes the magic hit more durable.
The loss of her father reshaped Lippe-McGraw’s outlook, and she needed Wilder to grow up curious and explore other corners of the world, as he did on a safari in Zambia (above). Jordi Lippe-McGraw
Ask Lippe-McGraw about her most emotional journey reminiscences with her son, and she doesn’t cite the extremes — but the in-between moments.
In Singapore, Wilder fell asleep in the center of a road food tour, slumped in his dad’s arms. Minutes later, he woke up and began sampling local dishes without hesitation. “That willingness to dive into something unfamiliar, even half-awake, really moved me,” she said.
Then there was Amsterdam. Fresh off a red-eye, the household stepped into the stadium for local soccer membership Ajax — and Wilder lit up. “It was pure joy,” she said. “Seeing that, knowing I was able to help make that moment happen for him, hit me harder than I expected.”
Is it ‘selfish’?
Wilder catches some shut-eye while touring in Antarctica in November. Courtesy Jordi Lippe-McGraw
Parents who jet-set with little ones are used to backlash — particularly from online critics who scold them for daring to carry a child past baggage declare.
Kaleigh Kirkpatrick, CEO of journey company the Shameless Tourist, can relate.
“I’ve heard it all — concerns about nap schedules, routines and especially the idea that ‘she won’t remember it anyway, so why go?’” said the mother of a 13-year-old daughter, whose first journey was at just 3 weeks outdated.
The judgment doesn’t stop there.
“I’ve also encountered the narrative that traveling with young children is somehow selfish or entitled,” Kirkpatrick told The Post, noting that critics are lacking the level.
“The reality is that parenting isn’t one-size-fits-all. We all make choices based on our values, our circumstances and what we believe will serve our children best.”
Forget the Instagram humble-brag wars over jet-setting tots — whether or not flying children around the world is about enrichment or ego isn’t so cut-and-dried.
According to medical psychologist Michael G. Wetter, the reality is a lot more sophisticated.
When Lippe-McGraw (above) was requested about her most emotional journey moments with her son, she pointed to the quiet in-betweens — not the extremes. Jordi Lippe-McGraw
“From a developmental standpoint, young children can derive meaningful benefits from travel even when they retain no explicit, autobiographical memories of the experience,” Wetter told The Post.
That displays a “fundamental principle of early childhood development: Learning during the first years of life occurs largely through implicit rather than narrative-based processes.”
Experiences form “neural architecture, emotional regulation capacities, sensory integration and attachment patterns” long before a baby can “consciously recall specific events or locations.”
Still, Wetter stresses, those advantages rely closely on how households journey and “are far from automatic,” he said.
Even infants rack up mind factors from journey, one knowledgeable told The Post. Wilder is shown above on a journey to Dubai. Jordi Lippe-McGraw
When journey is poorly paced or overly demanding, younger youngsters’s stress-regulation systems can turn out to be “overtaxed,” main to sleep disruption, irritability or regression.
The candy spot, he says, is journey that’s “developmentally attuned” — which means mother and father slow down, shield sleep, enable downtime and keep emotionally current instead of chasing bucket-list bragging factors.
Lippe-McGraw insists she’s mindful of that stability.
“Kids don’t need to understand the full meaning of a place for it to shape them,” she said.
Exposure alone teaches persistence, flexibility and curiosity, she added: “It’s a long game.”
That sport is already paying off academically for Wilder, who connects classes to his lived expertise. Lippe-McGraw says the greatest change she’s seen in him is confidence.
“He genuinely believes the world is accessible to him,” the proud guardian said.
Evolving journey type
Too a lot go-go-go journey can stress out children, wreck sleep and spark crankiness, warns medical psychologist Michael G. Wetter. Lippe-McGraw retains it chill, letting Wilder soak it all in — and the payoff exhibits in his curiosity, persistence and a confidence that the world is his to explore. Jordi Lippe-McGraw
The household’s journey type has developed as Wilder has grown.
Soccer now drives many itineraries. An Ajax soccer match in Amsterdam was a revelation; Barcelona is next, so that he can see FC Barcelona play. School calendars also matter now, forcing journeys into breaks and long weekends.
And, yes, sometimes that means skipping museums for lodge swimming pools.
“We were in London once, and all my son wanted to do was swim,” she said. “That ended up being one of his favorite memories.”
Even in Antarctica, after a humpback whale surfaced next to their boat, Wilder needed his iPad. His mother and father said yes.
“Once you let go of the idea that every second needs to be Instagram-worthy, travel becomes so much easier,” Lippe-McGraw said.
What’s next?
With seven continents conquered, the household is ditching checklists and milestones in favor of “balancing each person’s wishes, as opposed to accomplishing a goal.”
Gorilla trekking is on Mom’s want record. A European soccer camp tops Wilder’s.
“It’s not just dragging a kid along anymore,” she said. “It’s building a trip that feels like ours and his.”
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