Planning and executing meaningful and mutually beneficial family travel experiences can seem like a daunting and overwhelming task. But the benefits are well worth it. Read on for 7 benefits of family travel experiences.
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Family travel experiences don’t need to be expensive, long, or far from home in order to reap tremendous benefits.
Reason 1: Maximize the Quality of the Limited Quantity Time
“We only get 18 summers with our kids” goes the oft quoted adage. Broken down to the typical two week annual family vacation, does that mean that we only get 36 weeks with our kids!?!?! No! You actually get substantially LESS than that! Factor out the years you may decide to send them to camp, the years you have some family obligation during vacation time (elderly parent, family reunion or wedding, etc.), and the years you may think they are too young and what are you left with? We have maybe two dozen weeks at most to actually spend with our kids without being focused on homework and chores and carpooling and extra-curriculars and errands and routines and…and…and…
Multi-Week Road Trip Planning Hack
Which brings us to
Reason 2: Break the Routine
By taking your kids out of their routine and regular environment, they are more open to the family bonding and memories that will organically happen through family travel. It does not have to be anything major or expensive. But, if your teenagers are anything like [some of] mine, they will protest the family travel experience regardless.
So, keep in mind that
Reason 3: They Really Do Enjoy It
They may never admit to you how much they enjoy the family trips (and definitely not how much they appreciate the effort that went into them). But rest assured, they do. You will hear from their teachers, friends, parents of friends, neighbors…basically anybody but your own kid who would never admit to you how great it was! When they plan their own family travel experiences with their kids, you’ll know.
So focus on the
Reason 4: Long Term Benefits
The long term benefits of a family travel experience are immeasurable. Your kids may complain now, but when they are older they will look back with a lifetime of fond memories of the times spent together without the pressure and monotony of everyday life. The memories will be overwhelmingly positive. They most likely will even remember the “challenging” parts of the family trip positively.
Silver Linings of a Blown Out Tire
So you should be sure to
Reason 5: Model Handling Setbacks
There will be setbacks and things that don’t go as planned. They can be relatively minor like getting stuck in traffic and missing a reservation. They could be something bigger like a flight cancellation that has a domino effect on your entire trip’s plan. Or there could even be something more catastrophic that effects your entire family trip.
check out this simple to follow 3 easy step method to plan your trip
The key is how you, the parents, handle the situation. Do you lose it or do you roll with the punches? Are you totally stuck or do you have a Plan B ready to go? Do you look for three things that are actually good in the current situation? Do you ask yourself (in front of your kids) what you’re supposed to take way from this “mishap”? How we handle the setbacks will determine how our kids remember them (my kids laugh when recalling the time we ran out of gas 20 miles from anywhere). Remember “the only difference between a roadblock and an adventure is attitude”. I know this is easier said than done (just ask my husband).
True Confessions: Forgotten Luggage
But, there is always an opportunity to
Reason 6: Learn Something
I always see a good family travel experience as an opportunity to not let school get in the way of education. Kids learn best when they are interested, engaged, and don’t think they are learning. They can learn how to deal with setbacks, they can learn by interacting with people from other cultures and with different life experiences, they can learn about themselves.
However, not every experience along the way needs to be a learning experience–there is value in simple family fun. Furthermore, I am not suggesting you become your child’s teacher or turn everything into a “teachable moment” (a surefire recipe for disaster). But, build in activities that may seem off the beaten path in which they (and you) will learn something experientially. Become a beekeeper for a day and taste the difference in the honey depending on where the bees pollinated, bottle olive oil and learn about desert irrigation, tour a micro-distillery (with a tasting for the parents), feed the bison, visit Gettysburg with an engaging personalized tour, make crayons. The list is endless. (As an added bonus, most of these activities can be done for free).
The more unique, the more it will lend itself to
Reason 7: Collective Memories
Inside jokes, unique memories and experiences, all the HTBT (had to be there) and unexpected nature of a family travel experience is what makes it all worth it. Our kids grow up with a unique bond amongst themselves (and with us, their parents) that can’t be replicated. This all generates a lifelong togetherness which is what we really hope for as parents.
Amazing Lasting Family Memories Game
No matter how much time, effort, and money go into the “perfect” family travel experience, the long term results are priceless and make it all worthwhile.
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