5 Ways to Make Summer Vacation Special for Your Kids

Below are five tips for making your summer vacation a special one for your kids!

Involve the kids in planning the trip. Keep an open mind about where to go, and what to do, and even how to get there. Let the kids help you plan the trip. Explore many options with them, such as going to a national park, a theme park, on a road trip, or camping.

1. Record the trip the old-fashioned way. Technology today makes it easy to just point and click your way through a vacation and save the digital pictures on a CD or hard drive never to be looked at again. Consider recording your vacation the old-fashioned way by placing pictures in a photo album. Have the kids write down their thoughts and feelings at the end of each day or at the end of the vacation. Then place what they wrote in the photo album after the pictures from each day or after the pictures from the entire trip. If you have more than one child, consider making a separate photo album for each one that is all their own.
2. Don’t jam-pack your trip. All too often parents try to fit so many activities into a trip that they, and the kids, need a vacation to recover from the vacation! Kids, especially young ones, can tire easily during a vacation. Take adequate time in the morning and at the end of the day for rest. Consider breaking the day up into alternating segments of rest and activity so that everyone will stay energized.
3. Travel with another family. Taking a vacation with another family that you, mom, and the kids enjoy spending time with can make a vacation extra special. It can deepen the bonds between the families as they share an adventure. Traveling with another family can also reduce the cost of a vacation which, if you’re like a lot of dads, definitely makes a vacation special!
4. Plan for the worst and hope for the best. You might be asking, “How does that tip make for a special vacation?” The fact is things can go wrong on a vacation. Dad, mom, or kids can get sick or injured. After the kids help you plan the trip, identify doctors and hospitals—especially those that accept your health insurance—near your vacation spot so that in the event of an emergency, you’ll know where to go for healthcare.
   

SOURCE: National Fatherhood Initiative Dad E-mail Archive