Holidays are here to stay

 We get so busy with work, school, our activities, and our children’s activities that it seems we are all rushing in different directions at the same time. A family vacation is a way to pull everyone closer to enjoy on the vacation. Some families go to theme parks, camping, skiing, to see historical sites, and many other adventures. It depends on the interests of your family, the time you have for your vacation, and the types of activities you enjoy doing as a family. 

It is hard to have to stay in a vehicle for long periods of time regardless of how old you are. If your vacation destination is quite some distance, consider flying instead. You can also make the trip more enjoyable by stopping every few hours to stretch and walk a bit at rest areas along the way. Bring plenty of activities including games and music for the kids. Water and snacks are a good idea too in case they get hungry between meals. You can also get small movie screens to play a movie on for smaller children. Stopping for an activity somewhere along the way breaks up the driving time as well.

Since you want this to be a relaxing and enjoyable time for your family make sure everyone gets plenty of rest. Don’t over schedule your itinerary or everyone will become exhausted. We have all seen children on family vacations having a complete melt down. It is mainly due to too much  activity and not enough rest. Even parents can become exhausted. Make sure you schedule key activities so you can purchase tickets in advance and then let everything else just fall into place throughout the day.

HISTORICAL PLACES

Though many of us like to dream up the perfect family vacations to historic national locations or education trips  to museums, churches and temples, the truth is that in order to make everyone in the family happy about the family vacation, you may need to reconsider what activities will be available that will satisfy each member of the family.

Historic places always evoke a certain amount of curiosity among children and youth. There is always a curiosity to know about what happened in the past, particularly about the lives of our own ancestors. There is still much more to getting information about the kings and rulers of the past and about their rule. The stories relating to these kings and wars, the myths carried forward by oral traditions can make the youth to probe more and more into their times. The point is they not only learn about the particulars about such names and events, but also, learn strategies for their life to act upon.

If you feel it is important to take your children on historical trips, make sure that you try to balance these educational activities with fun, entertainment activities as well. After spending a few hours browsing through an art museum, paintings and rock art, why not take the kids to the local amusement park, park or arcade. Kids love to be let loose in a new environment filled with fun activities, and it can give the adults a chance to rest and talk with each other. This is yet another nice opportunity to study kids, their interests and in a deeper sense, their inner longings.

There is a tendency to take this summer time as a big menace. The scorching sun, the troublesome kids, who have been troublesome in the school and now in their homes, and the lack of money and other means to spend during the summer, may cause great worry for parents. Similarly, there is a tendency to fix up the usual locale for sight-seeing and picnicking. Instead, if you can spend a few minutes to think of unusual places and things during this summer, in spite of the heat, you can leave fond memories in the minds of the children and all the family members for the rest of their lives.

Tourism has developed intensely in the last decade to offer varieties of entertainment and amusement.

These days can be a stress reliever and may teach many things more than the bookish learning and education. And hence, you can expect not only to unwind during this summer, but also to learn new things different places and experiences can offer.

CRUISES

There are some types of pre- packaged family vacations that include all types of various activities. Of these, cruises are perhaps the most widely enjoyable variation of the family vacation. On many cruise ships, there are gyms, fitness classes, arcades, movies, classes, libraries, restaurants, spas and much more. Many cruise lines even have special activities and day care facilities for different age groups of children.

Some cruise lines in particular cater to the needs of children of all ages, with exciting expeditions, crafts and exercise-filled activities to choose from. For younger children there are appropriate creative activities and for older teenage children there are internet cafes, games and movie activities.

If you are going to take children on a cruise it is a good idea to be sure you are familiar with the safety policies as well as the types of activities that will be available to your children. After all, the exciting planned activities are only as good as your kids are interested in, so be sure that if you plan to have your children participate in this kind of cruise that there are activities that he or she will be interested in.

Cruises are nice family vacations for families that like to stay together all the time, as well as those that enjoy striking out in their own directions. Especially with teenage or adult children, cruises are a great way to make sure that every one finds some kind of activity that interests them.

Similarly, trips to large cities can be good vacations to take older children on, as there will be all kinds of different sights and places to see and visit. This is also a good way to combine educational trips with fun that will be enjoyable for everyone.

EDUCATIONAL TRIP

Another idea is to break the family vacation up into days where each member is allowed to choose the shared activity. This way everyone has a say in what happens yet everyone also gets to stay together and have fun. With older children this can also be an interesting exercise in letting them plan and schedule events.

When in doubt, ask around. When visiting an unfamiliar city, don’t be afraid to ask the local residents what they think the most fun, interesting or educational activities in their city are. You’ll be able to learn more about a city and the potential fun spots from someone that lives there than you ever will reading a travel guide, so ask around and see what you find out.

Apart from getting relieved of your stress, you can also help to rebuild your strength and physical stamina for the days of work that will follow. There must have been days when you would not have given enough food for your body-- the healthy course of food that was missing can be made up during this family vacation.

There is still another reason why you need this break: that is to rework on the life plan that you have made for yourself. This helps you to set your course of action for the days to follow, apart from giving you a sense of satisfaction, direction, purpose and meaning for your life as a whole.

Holidays are here to stay. It is up to you to make the best use of it.