Summer is coming up fast, which means it’s time for the annual family vacation. But as a mom, do you sometimes feel like you get stuck with all of the planning, booking, packing, and keeping everyone safe and happy, but none of the actual enjoyment of your family vacation? With just a little preparation, you can make sure your trip is stress-free and fun for the whole family, including you! Here is our mom’s guide to family vacations.
Choose a budget-friendly location
Money is one of the top stressors in life, and that is especially true on vacation, when it is all too easy to overspend. Choosing a budget-friendly vacation is a great step toward ensuring you won’t be unpleasantly surprised when you get your credit card statement. For example, instead of spending a week at Disney World, where food, souvenirs, and activities can easily leave your bank account on life support, why not spend a week in Hocking Hills, Ohio? Your family can hike, boat, swim, fish, picnic, and more in Hocking Hills State Park for practically nothing, and renting a cabin and providing some of your own meals will save you big bucks on accommodations and food.
Involve the whole family in the planning
Rather than take on all of the planning activities yourself, involve the whole family. Ask your kids what they want to do on vacation—some of their answers might surprise you! If your kids are Internet-savvy, you can even assign them online research tasks, like finding family-friendly restaurants and attractions in the area. A word of warning: don’t try to fit too many activities into a vacation. Leave some wiggle room in the schedule every day, as inevitably something will come up.
Leave your work at home
These days, we are constantly connected to the world via our smartphones and tablets. This is great for vacationers who need to look up directions, check restaurant reviews, and book activities, but it also means we are constantly connected to work. If you have a separate work phone, leave it at home, and disconnect from your work email. Twenty years down the road, you won’t remember why that work project seemed so important, but you will remember the wonderful time you spent with your kids. So don’t miss a moment of it!
Keep a regular schedule and routine
Younger children especially do best on vacation if they have a regular schedule. It’s fine to loosen up a little (in fact you should), for example, by letting them sleep in and eat Froot Loops a couple of days instead of Cheerios. But if dinner time is usually 6:30 and bedtime is 8:30, don’t plan dinner for 8 and bedtime for 10—that’s just asking for trouble.
Don’t sweat the small stuff
Finally, accept the fact that most likely something will not go as planned: you will forget a favorite stuffed animal, the drive will take twice as long as you think, and someone will get carsick, or an earache, or catch a cold. But don’t let these inconveniences ruin the entire vacation. Remember Richard Carlson’s famous line: “Don’t sweat the small stuff…and it’s all small stuff.
Hocking Hills is a wonderful spot for a vacation your family will always remember. Book a Hocking Hills cabin for your family vacation today.
Photo Credits: “Stress” by Alan Cleaver, via Flickr; “Lower Falls III” by Yprahs, via Wikimedia Commons
