You’ve worked hard all year long. The time has come to enjoy some time off. While you are browsing hotel booking sites and reading TripAdvisor reviews, you catch yourself thinking about your children.
How will they like what you choose? How will they behave on the boat trip you are booking? Will they allow you to get some sleep? The question whether or not to take the kids on a vacation is a tough one. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons.
Pros:
You Get To Spend Quality Family Time
You’ve been working hard and they’ve been going to school or kindergarten. How much quality time have you really spent together? The hectic evenings when you are conquering the house chores and they are doing homework don’t count.
Going on a vacation together allows you to enjoy time with your kids without the overwhelming hassle of everyday life. You can learn new things about your children while they can learn a lot from you.
Children Get To See New Places
While staying at home with a nanny might be a quieter way to spend a vacation, will the children learn anything new? Going to new places is a wonderful way to broaden your kids’ horizons. A trip to another city or country provides people of all ages with amazing emotions.
It seems as if robbing the kids of such experience is downright unfair.
Kids Can Become Smarter
We are not just talking about learning new things. Walks on the sand, breathing the fresh air, touching exotic trees, and tasting new food can make a child’s brain work better. The increased acuteness of sensory functions that kids experience on a vacation can help their brains develop faster.
You Can Save Money
Yes, you heard right. A great way to save money on a vacation is to bring your kids. Some all-inclusive resorts allow the children (usually under a certain age) to stay for free.
Accordingly, you can save a substantial amount of money on food and other amenities during your vacation. Look closely through the all-inclusive resort details to find out about such options. Most of them offer package details on their pages. Just make sure you’re looking at a family all-inclusive, not an adults-only spot. Your kids won’t be able to go to the former.
You Can Bring Your Family Closer Together
Vacation is virtually the only time the children see their parents completely happy, relaxed, and worry-free. This is a priceless experience for kids, which brings the whole family closer together. A 2013 survey, conducted by the research firm Kelton, found that vacations help families bond. The emotional connection you can develop while nothing is distracting you is invaluable.
Cons:
You Are Limited To The Kid’s Pace
Vacations with kids are usually slow. Children don’t have the patience to run around cities, taking photos, and sightseeing. Most kids prefer a more “fun” vacation that includes swimming in the pool all day, going to amusement parks, and visiting zoos. Such a slow vacation might seem very boring to the adults.
You Don’t Get Any Personal Time
If you want to spend some “adult” time with your partner, you can forget about it. Children require your attention 24/7 and relaxing at the bar with a glass of chardonnay is possible only when they are asleep.
By that time, you are probably so tired you can’t keep your eyes open. When taking your children on vacation, you have to realize that you are not going on a holiday. You are taking a trip with your kids. Still, there is some romance in hanging with your partner and the kids. You get to remember what makes you compatible and why you decided to start this family together.
You Won’t Get Enough Sleep
If throughout the whole year, you’ve been dreaming about getting some sleep on your vacation, forget about it. Even if your kids are great sleepers at home, they’ll suddenly become early risers during the vacation since there is so much new stuff to see! Get ready to rise with the sun no matter how you spent the previous evening.
You Have To Bring Huge Suitcases
Traveling with children means you have to bring a lot of things. You don’t realize how much stuff the kids actually need until you start stuffing it all into a suitcase. This is especially true for younger children, who need diapers, bottles, toys, etc., but can’t carry their own suitcases just yet. Parents tend to spend half the night before the trip packing and still end up forgetting something at home.
You Experience More Stress
Vacations with children are often more stressful than relaxing. You have to worry about the children staying healthy, happy, well fed, and by your side. Kids have a way of ruining their parents’ plans so you have to be ready for missed sightseeing trips and 5-minute meals.
Lack of sleep, the absence of quality time with your partner, and failed plans have a way of adding up to a pretty stressful vacation. Many parents agree that a vacation with their children is hard work.
So what do you think parents, will you be taking the kids on your next vacation? ;p
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