The road trip begins.
With the car fully loaded, including kids, luggage, and snacks, your family of five is heading off for family vacation. Last summer you let everyone’s schedules get in the way, but this summer you asked everyone to pencil in the five days on their calendars. Your high school daughter is the one who is the most notorious for filling her schedule to the brim, so you involved her in the planning of this trip. You correctly assumed that if she was invested in the planning she would be even more excited for the actual travel. You were right.
When it finally came time to leave for the adventure, your teenage daughter was the first in the car. She did even seem to care where she sat. Armed with information about museums and zip lining, your teenager admitted that she was anxious to be away for a few days. Away from the hectic schedule of her athletic practices and her part time job. Away from the stress of the summer before her senior year in high school. It was as if she, like both you and your husband, finally realized that these times would be gone too fast. As she spent time showing the plans for both indoor and outdoor activities to her younger brother and sister, she embraced the chance to be the big sister again. She was not weary of being a driver for these two, she was looking forward to being their tour guide on a trip that she had helped plan.
Family Vacations Can Include Museums, Local Restaurants, and Outdoor Adventures
You only have to spend a few minutes scrolling through your social media feed to know that it is family vacation season. From photos of kids posing by the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore to pictures of entire families white water rafting, the summer months when school is out of session can be busy. If you find yourself looking for things to do, in fact, your social media site can give you ideas. Once you have an idea, however, you might challenge yourself to disconnect with your technology and reconnect with your children.
In today’s digital world, it can sometimes be just as difficult to get the parents to disconnect as it is the children. The fact that museums around the country, for instance, now have rules about selfie sticks is an indicator of just how much our digital habit has infiltrated the rest of our lives. And while every family likely wants photos of their vacation, it is just as important to enjoy the experience as it is to document the moment.
Travel time is important to families. Where will your net adventure take you?
- Finding an activity that the whole family can enjoy should be the goal when you are on vacation. for some families, horse riding is the answer. For instance, an estimated 7 million people ride horses each year in the U.S.
- Approximately 37% of families indicate that vacations make them happy, making it the activity that makes families the most happy.
- Many museums are so well created that they might do well to eliminate the name that used to refer to places where you looked at boring exhibits. Today’s museums are designed to attract to all five senses and visitors of every age.
- Instead of staying in hotels, nearly 12% of all American adults, a percentage that represents 25 million people, went camping in the year 2015.
- Life at the beach is a great vacation idea. Perhaps this is the reason that so many families plan trips to Florida, a place where you are never more than 60 miles from the beach.
- Yearly estimates from 2013 indicate that campers traveled an average distance of 186.7 miles for their camping trips.
- The tourism industry has an economic impact of $67 billion in the state of Florida alone.
- In a national survey, 33% of Americans indicated that they ride bicycles for recreation.
- Making time for a family vacation is increasingly difficult for some families who are tied to hectic athletic practice schedules, volunteer commitments, and work. These trips, however, are important for families.
- Every trip you take with family is an opportunity to make more memories to last a lifetime.
