Vacations With Gen Y

As the kids go through the school years, vacations or vacationing becomes more of a challenge. What's the challenge? For the kids, being able to TAKE a vacation, but from a Mom's perspective, take a vacation as a family.

First, there's sports. If your child is an athlete you're screwed. Not really, but from a vacation vantage point you are. As a friend of older kids than mine once said, if your kids play hockey or a winter sport, forget taking a family vacation from November through April until they graduate! Just forget it! If your kid isn't an athlete, you still have to juggle the family calender, especially if you have more than one child. For twenty years we lived by the school calender(s), going on vacation when the schools' said it was vacation.

Now that two are out of college and in the "real world" and two are in two different colleges, our "vacation" schedule has taken a significant hit or shift. It's virtually impossible to vacation as a family during the "school year." Different vacation schedules. Oh yes, they all have Thanksgiving Day off and Christmas Day and New Year's Day, but that's about it. Then there's the geographic consideration and of course they all live in different states, so who's going to travel where? Who's going to pay for it? Do they even want to take those precious "vacation days" with their parents, I mean really....Well, they do if you're paying and they do if you pick a neat spot to spend some time together. It doesn't have to be anything over the top, but preferably where the sun shines, where there's lots to do, and everybody gets their own bed.

It takes work to plan a family vacation with kids that all live out of the household. What seems to work is summertime. It seems that everyone's got summer fever and the thought of being able to have a change of scenery is welcomed by all.

The other vacation factor that looms is the "significant other". Those kids of yours that have a boyfriend or girlfriend. Pretty soon, they're asking if those people can be included, thus the dynamic shifts. Is that such a bad thing? Absolutely not, but it's different. It makes the vacation accommodations more challenging, where's everyone sleeping (that's a whole other blog)? It makes the interactions between siblings change a bit, between parents and kids, parents and sig. others....Again, not a bad thing, but a change.

Every mother that I speak to relishes the times when she has all of her own kids under the same roof at the same time....listening to the banter, sharing stories, giving advice, listening...these Moms are the ones that are almost "empty nesters" (one high schooler still around) or are empty nesters. We all feel like it's a gift being with our family, so a 'family vacation' takes on a whole new meaning than when they were younger and around all the time. You've "worked" for it and planned it and when they all can come, take their "coveted vacation time" with their FAMILY, well there's no better gift! That's all I need!!!!