In child psychology, there’s a term called joint attention; it refers to the act of focusing on the same thing together. It’s a building block of healthy development, but it’s also one of the simplest ways the family bond begins to form. Joint attention gives us the chance to see life through each other’s eyes, to support one another through a challenge or to laugh at the same small moment.
It’s no coincidence that summer holidays tend to be among our most vivid memories. They are the times when families have the most opportunity to share that kind of joint attention. Without the pull of work or school, everyone is more present. The days are shaped less by routine and more by experiences that are shared by everyone.
On a Discover Corps trip, that might look like a grandparent and child walking a shoreline together at night, scanning the sand for turtle nests, or a parent steadying a surfboard while their child finds balance. These are the moments that build our family bonds, because they create a shared focus families can carry home and reflect on together.
At the end of summer, we do our own kind of joint attention here at Discover Corps. We look back not only at the impact our travelers made through hands-on participation, but also at the stories they share with us. Stories of parents, children, and grandparents discovering the world together and returning home more connected. And few things are more meaningful than hearing from multigenerational families who experienced these moments side by side.
One of those families this summer was DC Alum Chris McNeil’s, who joined our Sea Turtle Initiative in Costa Rica with his daughter and seven-year-old grandson. For them, the trip blended real conservation work with the joy of discovery, giving three generations the chance to focus on the same experiences in new ways.
In Costa Rica, part of that experience is meaningful evenings spent on beach patrols finding sea turtle nests to relocate to the safety of our partner organization’s conservation efforts. Chris told us afterward, “I was impressed with the reaction of my seven-year-old grandson, who was actively involved in the search!”
And mornings gave way for his family to try out new adventures and activities together.
“We also had fun, lots of fun,” Chris shared. “My daughter and my 7-year-old grandson learned to surf, they spent lots of time every day swimming in the pool at our lodging and boarding on the ocean waves, and after relocating to the Borinquen Thermal Resort for the last two days of our trip they experienced thermal baths, zip lining, horseback riding and river tubing.”
The balance between purpose and joy shaped the way they’ll remember the trip. And DC guides help to make those moments possible by keeping the logistics in the background.
Chris told us that “Miguel was with us every step of the way, ensuring we arrived on time, engaging with the hosts we were relying upon, and making consistently great choices about places for us to dine.” That steady support freed his family to forget about the details, and spend their time focusing their attention on each other.
Looking back, Chris reflects with a hope: “My hope is that over time I’ll be able to introduce more of my grandkids to volunteering as part of their travel experience, and if so, Discover Corps will be my first and only choice.” His words point to something larger than a single trip. They suggest that family travel, when it is rooted in both purpose and play, can create lasting bonds across generations.
As another summer shifts into fall, that is what we hold onto. Families don’t measure their time together by how many activities they checked off, but by the moments when they looked in the same direction and felt connected because of it. Joint attention may be a concept from psychology, but in practice it looks a lot like family travel at its best: moments of shared focus that create lasting bonds across generations.