Travel Europe Articles

Family Vacation

Family Vacation – Should We Bring The Children?

Parents approach overseas travel with obvious trepidation. “We’re thinking of going to Switzerland with our two-year-old. Are we nuts?” Or, “Our 14-year old barley speaks to us. Will two weeks in Mexico help or will we end up hating each other?”

These are the type of questions that come up when people consider a family vacation. They are very logical questions and for good reason.

Go for it. The experience is well worth it, as long as you know the basic whys and how to travel with kids

Why Travel With Kids?

Why shouldn’t you just go by yourselves? After all, the children won’t appreciate the elegance of the Tudor inn in England.

You’re not the first one to think this way – it’s logical. Surprisingly, though, most parents say they appreciated the slower pace of traveling with their children. The typical adult trip is too often a race from one well-known sight to the next, as you try to cram it all in and become a victim of the 10-countries-in-8-days syndrome.

The best family vacation involves staying put, taking it slowly, learning more about everyday life. Leave the kids behind and you’re on vacation overseas. Take them along, and you’re temporarily living in another land.

Another good reason for a family vacation is better communication and family cohesion can sometimes be the outcome of traveling with your kids. A special family vacation can, on its own, create a powerful family culture. Years after you return, you’ll still hold a solid core of private jokes and common memories that tie your family together.

While on a family vacation, many families rediscover the art of conversation. At home, dinner is rushed, with some family members already at play rehearsal or PTA, others not yet back from work or basketball practice. The TV’s on and the phone rings at just the wrong times.

On the road, you’re all together on a train or in a family room at a youth hostel, and somehow discussions arise. A troop of beggars panhandling on a Paris street leads one kid to ask, “How come some people are rich and other people are poor?”

Traveling on a family vacation with kids may also be a great way to short-circuit years of adolescent wrangling. This can help with productive ways of developing communication patterns that can last for years.

Traveling overseas exposes your family to different points of view. Traveling with your kids on vacation also gives your kids valuable coping skills. Travel is not always a day in the park. There’s a lot of kids (and adults) that can learn from coping with the ups and downs of foreign travel while on vacation. Planning your trip to make as much contact with the local culture can really help. Take a weeks vacation in luxury hotels and your kids won’t learn to cope with anything but jet lag.

Is there anything more important you can teach your children than learning how to communicate, see life from different points of view, and make the most of any situation? Start planning your family vacation now, and make your dreams happen. What’s your excuse for not taking your kids overseas?