Planning a family vacation can be both enjoyable and stressful. It can be fun to decide where you want to go and choose all of the things that you want to do. But faced with accommodation issues for the whole family or the logistics of the flight with a couple of kids can feel overwhelming. Quite often it will be one person taking charge of the planning, and the rest of the family just turns up. But have you ever thought about getting your kids to help and getting them involved in the whole vacation planning process? Here are some tips and tricks to get your children involved, and to help them to help you.
Read Books
Our children won’t know where they want to visit or won’t know what things to see and do if they have never heard of places before. So as part of their schooling or nighttime reading, choose some books that are based on different countries to amaze and inspire them. If you have a particular destination in mind, then why not head to the library with them to see what related books you can find. Getting them excited about where you’re going helps so much when you’re actually away.
Download Apps
Whether we like to admit it or not, tablets are a savior when it comes to kids and travels. But if we can get them some apps on there that are going to be useful for the trip, then it will help them focus and do things related to travel. You could get them a flashcard app with different languages if you are planning to go abroad, for example. A photo app like MyPostcard Photo Postcard App would allow them to create photo postcards from the snaps that they take when they’re away. So this could be fun for them to send to friends or grandparents, for instance. A currency app, as well as things like matching flags of different countries, are all good ideas too. Apps will help them to learn and get them excited for the trip.
Find Activities Together
As parents, you still need to take some control of what you do on vacation. They might be certain things that you want to do regardless. But giving the children a list of possible options for things to do can be really useful. They can help to narrow it down and then you’ve got an itinerary sorted. Plus, giving them the choice gives them some accountability. They can’t just decide that they don’t like something when they were the ones that chose to do it.
Ask For Their Input With Accommodation
Again, you need to take some control of this. But if you were looking for somewhere to stay somewhere like Airbnb, for example, you could choose your top three and then have the children narrow it down. It gives them responsibility, and they can feel like they are really contributing to the vacation. They can also choose who will sleep where which can be useful to avoid arguments when you get there. If they are just going on vacation without knowing where they’ll stay or what they’ll do, it can be detrimental.
Talk About Your Memories
Children love to hear about when their parents were younger and what they will have done for their family vacations. So tell them what your favorite was. Why did you like it? Where did you go? It can help to get them excited about it all, as well as perhaps inspire you all with some new ideas for your vacation.
Watch Movies
Reading books is great for the imagination of our children and helps them to learn to read and form words. But watching movies from time to time can really help and inspire them. Many children will be visual learners so they will learn a lot from watching movies. For something like Harry Potter, they can see all of the UK based destinations and then if you were planning a trip to London, they will be able to recognize all of the sights that they saw in the movies. Just another fun way to get them involved and excited about travel.
As you can see, it doesn’t have to be anything grand or complex when it comes to traveling with kids and getting them involved. Keep the conversation open, and they will feel the responsibility that comes with decision-making. Teaching responsibility is a good idea for any age too. Good luck with planning your travels!
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