When my daughter was 9, I remember reading something about how I’ve already spent almost half the time I’ll ever get with her. If you go by the concept that your kids will move out at 18, and the day to day you get to spend with them, at 9, you’re at the halfway mark. This realization made my appreciate the importance of traveling with your kids. 

Yes, I know that she’ll spend time with me after she turns 18. There will be life events, and family gatherings. But someday she’ll have a family of her own. She’ll have her own day to day life to manage and I won’t have unlimited hours every day to spend with her. 

There’s another consideration that you only get 18 summers with your kids before they are off to college. Eighteen summers goes by fast. I can attest to that as I’m entering the 18th summer with my son. 

For these reasons, I’ve never regretted traveling with my kids. Something about taking us out of our daily routines allows us to connect and talk better than we do when we are home.

If their limited time at home doesn’t spur you to travel more with your children, there are other reasons we, as a family, want to head out.

• Screen-Free – Generally, when we travel, the kids are off their devices more. This is just a natural occurrence as we’re out and about doing things, seeing the sites, hiking, or simply hanging at the beach.
• More Reading – I know this can go under the category of screen-free, but I also know I get to read more when we’re traveling. Fewer distractions, fewer household chores, you get it. And if you’re driving and can’t read, get an audiobook, maybe one the whole family would enjoy.
• Games –  When we travel, we also play more games with the kids. We’ll head back to the room after a day of exploring and still enjoy more time together playing Apples to Apples, Exploding Kittens, or good old-fashioned Uno.
• Cultural Experiences – If you travel outside of your hometown, you’ll likely be exposed to a different culture. Big cities have more diversity. Other countries may have a different way of living. These experiences show kids compassion, understanding, learning, etc. This article is a beautiful piece of Cultural Compassion.
• Quality Time – Above all else, traveling more with your children leads to more quality time with them. Away from distractions, away from work, activities, deadlines, etc. Traveling with my kids allows us to talk more freely, and enjoy each other’s company.

How do we do it? How do we travel more with our children? Schedule it.

The fact is, as my kids get older, they get busier. Planning family vacations don’t always fit into our busy schedules. Between school schedules, work obligations, extracurriculars, I don’t feel like we get to stop and enjoy each other’s company.

However often it makes sense for your family, sit down with a calendar (we have a shared Google Calendar), and review your free time. For us, that’s about once a quarter. For other families, maybe once a year, every 6 months, or even every month is a good review of when you might get away.

Personally, I love the paper Planners, and the Go Girl Planners on Amazon are my favorites.

Of course, not every free moment needs to be filled with vacations. Obviously, we have household responsibilities and we don’t always want to be on the go. However, if we don’t intentionally schedule our vacations, we let life get the better of us and we just don’t go.

Traveling more with your children is not something you’ll regret. I hope this inspires you to get out and plan your family vacation. Purple Light Vacations books vacations for all kinds of families. Please contact us for help with traveling with your kids.

Purple Light Vacations provides you with the knowledge, insight and personalized service to make your vacation all you want it to be at no additional cost. We help you travel in the know wherever you go. To get started, fill out this quick form or call 619.324.1444 (ext. 3).