The other day my wife and I were visiting about travel with a new business prospect. She and her husband are very family oriented. Recently their oldest son married, and they realized with some chagrin that the last twenty years had passed all too quickly and with complete finality. They would never have exactly those same opportunities to experience life with their son. Those doors were forever closed. Her conclusion? “We want to travel more with the children who are still in the home.” You had better believe it. Family travel is in.

Groan! Panic! But travel is so difficult with kids! Who can afford the expense of taking a vacation to Disney World? It’s impossible to take our small children on a trip to Hawaii. Are you kidding? Our children would never enjoy (or let my wife and I enjoy) a historical tour of the Civil War battlegrounds. Be together for an entire week with our teen-age daughter! She (we) would drive each other crazy.

Take courage. There is help out there. Families travel together all the time, and enjoy the experience. Not only do they enjoy the experience, they enjoy each other’s company, and they build fond memories together that both the parents and the children revere and cherish for the rest of their lives.

Of course a successful family vacation requires planning. As another friend said, “It took us an entire day to plan the week’s itinerary for our visit to Washington, D.C., but we won’t be sitting around asking each other what we should do next during the vacation. We’ll be doing it. The children won’t have time to get bored.”

Consider the following tips for successful family vacations.

• Pack a special bag of essentials for small children’s emergency, sanitary and medical needs, but don’t try to take everything.
• Pack a travel activity bag with items that can be used for several activities.
• Research the vacation destination or facility. What special accommodations and activities are available for your children’s age group?
• Share the planning with your children. Gather the information about the trip and ask them what they want to do.
• Look for challenging activities like wall climbing or repelling or snorkeling that help develop skills and self-esteem.
• Be willing to do what they want to do. Get down to or reach up to their activities. Allow them to beat you on their video games. Be willing to laugh at your awkwardness or ineptness and to praise their abilities.
• Expect them to ‘tolerate’ some of your favorite activities.
• Are there accommodations available during your vacation for baby sitting or child care for one special Mom/Dad date night?

• Consider a cruise vacation (http://www.cedarviewtravelresources.com) where special programs and activities are often available for children as young as two through the teen-age years. Your children won’t mind letting Mom and Dad do their own thing while they are chaperoned in their own activities with their peers.
In conclusion, just do it! Invest some time and effort into planning a family vacation. The planning can turn into a family dream filled with excitement and anticipation. Of course, it doesn’t have to be a horribly expensive vacation that takes you the next year to pay for. Play within your means, but play with your children while they are children. The memories will live forever.