Summer Travel: Tips From A Mom On The Right Way To Travel As A Family This Summer

In the life of a parent, before summer arrives there is the chaos of exams and beyond that, there is the heavyweight task to plan the summer out for the children so they dont spend too much time on the screen. While we are in the midst of this whirlpool, planning and coordinating their days or trips we somehow forget to enjoy our time with the kids. We as a family need this time to bond stronger not just through the activities and dinners and all the fun days planned, but through the small conversations at the dinner table that extend late into the night. Our summer trips are generally planned with a group of friends or cousins so that the kids have their own company and so do we. Being parents to teenage kids, the husband and me thought, at that point, if it was possible to enjoy our trip without running out of topics for conversations, without being too lecture-y with them.

In the life of a parent, before summer arrives there is the chaos of exams and beyond that, there is the heavyweight task to plan the summer out for the children so they donâ€™t spend too much time on the screen. (KSP Planner is a saviour).

We have our usual, workshops the kids attend, summer projects from school that have to be done. While we are in the midst of this whirlpool, planning and coordinating their days or trips we somehow forget to enjoy our time with the kids.

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Summer for us at home is travel, conversational marathons and we bring out the stack of board games. We enjoy the sense of liberty that summer brings with it. The one thing we are not is a stickler for rules during summer. I like to think that the kids and us, need this time to rejuvenate as a family. We as a family need this time to bond stronger not just through the activities and dinners and all the fun days planned, but through the small conversations at the dinner table that extend late into the night.

For us, as a family, the highlight of our summer is our travels. Our summer trips are generally planned with a group of friends or cousins so that the kids have their own company and so do we. It’s just more convenient that way. One such summer, we decided to be brave enough and took a month long holiday just by ourselves, just the 4 of us. Being parents to teenage kids, the husband and me thought, at that point, if it was possible to enjoy our trip without running out of topics for conversations, without being too lecture-y with them. Â Just pure fun? The children were nervous about having all our attention on just them for a month. Mixed feelings.

But it turned out to be the best vacay, we have had so far together. Of course, with friends, it is amazing fun, but by ourselves, it was an adventure! We planned our trip together with a lot of input from the children as well. We let them research on the cities we had thought about and let them pick their interests from all the best things to do.

We were visiting Disney World that year and both the kids actually went through the maps of every park online and made a list of the things they would want to do. We did our own research and got recommendations from friends, and kept both these lists in mind. Taking one day at a time, we would never stress ourselves about ticking everything off our list for the day. We kept it at a slow pace. In the world’s busiest city we spent time looking at the city and it’s people while sipping on a hot chocolate at a street side cafe. We spent an entire day doing nothing at the Central Park walking around, soaking in the sun. We visited several music stores, local craft stores and lots more.

You realise when we are all relaxed and doing â€œnothingâ€_x009d_ together, that is when the fluttering butterfly of happiness comes by giving us the most awesome memories. The relaxed conversations, the giggle, the laughter, predictions of the where we will all be ten years from now, us as parents and them as children. When you are away from home, it is the best time for a stronger bonding between everyone in the family. Teenagers are at such an impressionable age, they feel attended to and let their guards down to let us into their lives and minds. (Parents of teenagers know how much work that takes).

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I strongly recommend this kind of a trip if you haven’t taken one so far. The way the children open up their hearts to you, their dreams, hopes, aspirations, a number of things you will discover about your children’s characters as a travel companion will be surprising!

This summer, while you travel, build an album of memories, instead of just pictures with your children. Follow your heart, instead of an itinerary, make the trip at a pace where you all will enjoy it. Get your children to add hand written notes to your albums, digital or otherwise to record their memories, and you can add yours too. Do share with us pictures or stories of your Family Travel Diaries in the comments below. Happy Holidays!

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