It’s a Family Trip, not a Vacation
Advocate, Feature, Health — By Marcie on July 14, 2009 at 9:30 am
When I was ten-years-old I threw up all over the front seat of our station wagon. I was sitting on what my brothers and I affectionately called the “hump” that was in between my mother and father and the vomit went absolutely everywhere.
My father immediately screamed at me and started to pull the car over. I started to cry, explaining to him that I did, in fact, give him fair warning by telling him “I don’t feel so good”.
My mother tried to clam everyone in the car, including my brothers, who were plugging their noses and yelping.
We were only about four hours into our 18 hour drive to New Orleans.
Most of our vacations were like that but as a parent I still subject myself to the same thing. My husband and I recently planned a vacation to Michigan for our 10th anniversary…with the kids. Yes, we are crazy. But, despite the hectic days watching children run and play, keeping schedules, diapering and feeding, tracking down lost blankies, and blowing bubbles…I still long for a vacation.
My friend Mel told me, while feeding her 3 month old in the shade of a beautiful oak tree, that her new philosophy is that trips like these are considered “family trips”, not vacations. She, like me, was also watching her older child play in the sand near us and fretting over the nearby water.
As a parent I find vacations family trips to be tiring and I long for the days when my husband and I use to travel to all-inclusive resorts and sip Pina Colada’s poolside. Now that, was a vacation. Inevitably, I will subject myself to another family trip but I think that next time I’m headed to the The Dominican Republic, Jamaica, or Miami to a kid-friendly resort or hotel instead of a lake cabin. I want my kids to have entertainment options, games and activities, babysitting services so that my hubby and I CAN sip those Pina Colada’s poolside (for at least an hour or two). www.Oyster.com
Am I the type to drop my kids at the babysitter? Of course not. We even took our babysitter with us on this most recent vacation so we could have some free time (and never used her). But, she did help us wrangle them and it was a blessing.
Perhaps I should take advice from all of you…what do you do?
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3 Comments
Yeah….after a um,family trip to the Outerbanks where I spent most of my time wrestling an almost 2 yr old to sleep, I started referring to vacations as “a change of scenary” or “adventures”. The word vacation doesn’t really enter into it, I don’t think, until they are old enough to be dropped at Camp Carnival or whatever!! Doing the vaca w/ my parents atleast affords us one nice night out w/o kids, which is a start.
We are thinking that by the time the boy is about 4, we could do an all inclusive resort or cruise, utilizing their programming options. Til then, “family trips” it is, with the occassional weekend away with the kids at Grandma’s……
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Family trips are different from vacations. But everyone should take a vacation, especially if you are a parent.
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Well…just wait a few years…these family adventures really do train them for being good travelers later! We love to vacation and of course, all three kids are with us. We do the family friendly resorts – but they’ve never used the kids’ clubs as they can simply entertain themselves pool or beach side. We are pretty hard core about them being able to do things on vacation without our constant attention. So, now I take vacations and sip whatever drink I’d like while knowing that between the three of them – someone will think up a pool game to play or a cool new way to surf waves. AND – we are doing Dominican Republic in October – SO excited!!!
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