Making the Most of Your Family's VacationBy Janet Lombardi, Featured Author
What makes a great family vacation? There is no one way to do it, even if you've taken the same vacation year after year. Keeping an open mind, recognizing that the vacation is for everyone, and striving towards compromise can separate the sparklers from the duds.
For starters:
- Drop the idealism. If you think the family getaway will measure up to some idealized version of perfection, you will be disappointed. As one parent said, "My kids whined in Disney World just like they do at home!" Instead of perfection, strive for memory-making moments that keep everyone feeling good about being together.
- Get the whole family involved in planning. Nothing helps someone feel good about an experience like being part of the decision-making team. Look at travel brochures, Web sites, and newspaper articles together. Elicit your child's ideas. You may not end up doing what they want—or you may—but you will have fostered communication, decision-making, and compromise.
- Schedule something for everyone. Dragging your kids from museum to museum because it's your vacation, too, will probably not work (unless your kids love museums) if your children would rather go to an amusement park. Nor do you have to feel obligated to indulge your child's every wish just because you're on vacation. Strike a balance so everyone gets some time to do what he or she likes.
- Give teens some latitude. Judy, a 15-year-old, was griping about having to get up early every day to sight-see, so her parents gave her mornings off. They made arrangements to meet before lunch. Everyone won. Judy got the rest she wanted and her parents didn't have to spend their mornings with an unhappy kid.
- Break off and do things separately. A family vacation doesn't dictate unconditional togetherness. If you and your daughter want to visit the science museum but your son and his dad want to play wiffle ball on the beach, so be it. The goal is an enjoyable experience for everyone.
