By the time most kids are tackling multiplication tables, Wilder McGraw had already seen all seven continents — Antarctica included.
The milestone wasn’t part of some color-coded parenting master plan, insists travel writer Jordi Lippe-McGraw.
It was an accident that snowballed into a family 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 moment came when Wilder was 5.
As Lippe-McGraw and her husband, Ross McGraw, casually tallied the places they’d been with their son ahead of a trip to South America, they realized he’d already visited five continents.
“My husband stared at the list and said, ‘Well … we might as well finish it.’”
Born to roam
Wilder’s passport got its first stamp early — very early. He was just 8 weeks old when the family flew to Portugal in August 2018. Caribbean islands, Canada and Mexico followed before his second birthday, when the pandemic grounded their globe-trotting.
Once the world reopened, the Lippe-McGraws were back in motion. 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 came next — France, Switzerland, Scotland, Ireland and Italy — plus the Galápagos, all before he turned 5.
This past summer sealed the deal: Amsterdam, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand knocked out continent No. 6. In November, Antarctica became the final frontier.
For Lippe-McGraw, a former Post writer, the icy trek was deeply personal. Antarctica had been her own seventh continent — visited while she was five 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 family 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 trip came with a sweet surprise: He bonded with the only other kid on board, an 8-year-old girl, while a resident researcher whisked the pair off each day for hands-on lessons — part science class, part Antarctic adventure.
Traveling through grief
Travel isn’t just an adventure for Lippe-McGraw — it’s survival.
She faced a shocking, profound loss when her father, a medical doctor and a pilot, died in a 2010 plane crash. For a time, she was paralyzed by a fear of flying. She could have continued to retreat inward; however, she chose 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 wanted her son to grow up curious, not cautious; confident, not constrained. “I wanted him to see the world as navigable, not intimidating.”
Watching her son experience places she once traveled solo has been surreal. Standing on Antarctic ice — this time with a curious child instead of a baby bump — brought the emotions 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 nearby. “It brings a new perspective and appreciation for me.”
‘People see the polished moments’
For every jaw-dropping vista, there’s a meltdown — and Lippe-McGraw is quick to say social media doesn’t show the full picture.
“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 were Antarctic days when Wilder lay motionless in his bunk for 36 hours, terrified of throwing up again. Snacks were negotiated “like hostage deals.”
“It’s unglamorous and chaotic and sometimes deeply uncomfortable,” she said — yet somehow, that makes the magic hit harder.
Ask Lippe-McGraw about her most emotional travel memories with her son, and she doesn’t cite the extremes — but the in-between moments.
In Singapore, Wilder fell asleep in the middle of a street food tour, slumped in his dad’s arms. Minutes later, he woke up and started 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 family stepped into the stadium for local football club 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’?
Parents who jet-set with little ones are used to backlash — especially from online critics who scold them for daring to bring a baby past baggage claim.
Kaleigh Kirkpatrick, CEO of travel agency 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 mom of a 13-year-old daughter, whose first trip was at just 3 weeks old.
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 missing the point.
“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 flying kids around the world is about enrichment or ego isn’t so cut-and-dried.
According to clinical psychologist Michael G. Wetter, the truth is a lot more complicated.
“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 reflects a “fundamental principle of early childhood development: Learning during the first years of life occurs largely through implicit rather than narrative-based processes.”
Experiences shape “neural architecture, emotional regulation capacities, sensory integration and attachment patterns” long before a child can “consciously recall specific events or locations.”
Still, Wetter stresses, those benefits depend heavily on how families travel and “are far from automatic,” he said.
When travel is poorly paced or overly demanding, young children’s stress-regulation systems can become “overtaxed,” leading to sleep disruption, irritability or regression.
The sweet spot, he says, is travel that’s “developmentally attuned” — meaning parents slow down, protect sleep, allow downtime and stay emotionally present instead of chasing bucket-list bragging points.
Lippe-McGraw insists she’s mindful of that balance.
“Kids don’t need to understand the full meaning of a place for it to shape them,” she said.
Exposure alone teaches patience, flexibility and curiosity, she added: “It’s a long game.”
That game is already paying off academically for Wilder, who connects lessons to his lived experience. Lippe-McGraw says the biggest change she’s noticed in him is confidence.
“He genuinely believes the world is accessible to him,” the proud parent said.
Evolving travel style
The family’s travel style has evolved as Wilder has grown.
Soccer now drives many itineraries. An Ajax football match in Amsterdam was a revelation; Barcelona is next, so that he can see FC Barcelona play. School calendars also matter now, forcing trips into breaks and long weekends.
And, yes, sometimes that means skipping museums for hotel 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 wanted his iPad. His parents 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 family 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 wish list. 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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