Include Your Kids in Planning Family Summer Vacations

Whether you’re on a tight financial budget or have a busy work schedule, you still want to work hard to take advantage of school being out and plan a family vacation during the summer.

There are lots of opportunities to have fun no matter your budget, from long weekend getaways to extended trips away from home, but it’s important to consider which option works best for your family as a whole.

The first thing that you need to do as a parent is determine your budget. Knowing ahead of time how much money you’re willing to spend on your trip can help you plan and prioritize your adventures.

That way, you can have fun without major financial surprises. However, that doesn’t mean you need to or even should plan for every nickel along the way. Be sure to include some padding in your financial plans to allow for some spontaneity.

The other important thing to keep in mind is the amount of time you can spend on your vacation. Summer vacation is the perfect chance to get to go to places that are too far away to visit during the school year, so even if money is an issue for you, you may still have a lot of time to put aside.

If you don’t have a lot of paid time off from work or aren’t going to be able to get away for long, whether it’s paid time or not, this is also something to take into consideration.

A single income family can always choose to have part of their vacation with the work-at-home parent and have the one who works outside the home joining in the fun at the beginning, end or somewhere in the middle. Because of other time commitments, it might even fit your family to take short trips or even plan a “staycation” where you stay at home and visit the local sites as if you were tourists.

Unless your children aren’t talking yet, it’s a good idea to consult them on vacation plans. While they may not have a vote in the financial budget or even how long the trip will be, they certainly can voice how they’d like to have fun this summer. This can help get them excited about the trip rather than moping around or complaining about how much they’ll miss their friends. That would do nothing to help your family adventure and would certainly add to your stress level.

Discuss the main goal of this trip as a family. Do you want maximum time together all day long or would you like to all do independent activities and get together to share every evening? Are you a physically active bunch that wants to participate in activities you already know and love or would you like to experience something new together? Does the idea of hiking and camping together excite any of you?

Or is your ideal vacation relaxing at the beach? Or is it a big city with its museums?

Have each family member think about their ideal vacation independently. Then come together and talk about the various ideas. There may be a large range of ideas or you may discover a common thread in what you want. Giving each member of the clan the chance to talk about what they want allows everyone the opportunity to share, be heard, and offer suggestions on how the entire family can have the best vacation ever.