If teens don’t want to travel -do you?
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Anonymous
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We have 13 and 15 yr olds that do not like to travel. We are a fairly well traveled family. Spouse and I have started to debate whether we force an international trip and hope everyone gets on board or simply skip it this summer.
Thoughts? |
Anonymous
| Of course you go. How is this even a question? What other major decisions do you allow your young teens to make? |
Anonymous
| Depends why they don't want to travel. My answer is different if it is because they struggle with the disruption to their routine, hotel sleeping, jet lag, etc vs not wanting to spend time with family or missing electronics |
Anonymous
| Why not ship them off to camp and then you and DH go on a nice int'l trip? |
Anonymous
| Why force it? This is about you and not them. No, I would not make them go. |
Anonymous
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We're an international family who doesn't get to travel often, so when we do, everyone is on board to see our relatives and our two native countries!
Why don't they like to travel? Do they get sick on planes (my sympathies, I get sick too)? Want to stay here to see friends? The sight-seeing is not interesting? To keep everyone happy when we travel, I do a ton of research and plan visits that I know each kid will appreciate. So last time we were in my native country, we toured castles for the history buff, and we went to a well-known zoo for the animal lover. They both love food (despite some anaphylactic allergies we have to watch out for), so we take a little time to pick likely-looking restaurants for each outing, or add fun street snacks, and it perks them right up. |
Anonymous
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I am a single parent of a very ornery 16 yr old. He is fickle and if given the opportunity would never leave his game room at home. We do about 2-3 vacations per year, and he does not get excited about them anymore, but enjoys and appreciates them once we are on them.
As a single parent it is hard for me to maintain enthusiasm about my travel possibilities when my fickle teenager says he just wants to stay home all the time and hang out online with his friends. It’s tough but I have been steadfast in telling him he will come with me. He will be off to college within a year and a half and who knows what travel for us will look like at that time. I didn’t take any fancy trips as a kid but I have the fondest memories of the travels and vacations I had with my parents and family, bc it doesn’t last forever. I want my son to have those memories of me. I have the rest of my life to take trips solo or with friends or significant others, but only this brief window of time to travel with my child while he’s still in my home and it’s just us. I’m treasuring it. |
Anonymous
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Clearly you are doing something wrong on your trips.
As your kids what kind of vacations they are in to. |
Anonymous
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We go.
If they go, they are expected to participate 80% of time, otherwise they can stay home and not waste my hard earn money. Thankfully we have family nearby to check in on them. |
Anonymous
| I don't want to take a trip where they will spend the whole time whining and complaining. Is there a destination/way of traveling that they will enjoy? For example, my teens would hate going to museums in European cities. But an active trip to the jungle and Mayan ruins in Belize was a great hit. |
Anonymous
Clearly you haven’t had the pleasure of parenting teenagers yet. You’ll see, lol. You’ll be eating your words! |
Anonymous
| If given the choice, our teens would just stay home. But they don't have a choice, and come globe trotting with us on occasion (once per year). |
Anonymous
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Mom of college age DDs here. OP, the best thing I did was stop doing full family vacations when my oldest was (I think a junior) in high school. It had become like herding cats (and my DH was one of the cats)
What ended up evolving was better...I spent time with each DD doing what they wanted to do, which was very different. I got closer to them on a one-on-one level, with great talks, etc. When with both, they squabble and I'm the parent. Alone with each, it was easy and enjoyable for me. Now that they are both in college, we've gone away together for Thanksgiving and that was really fun. So just think of it as a temporary pause, while they go through a few develomental phases. |
Anonymous
Not PP you were responding to, but I have an 18 and 13 year old, and they would never dare say they don't want to go. Sometimes they get grumpy, but nothing that a fun excursion or fun food won't fix. I work hard to include activities they'll like, and the expectation is that we're a family unit and we do things together. The college freshman will still accompany us this summer, as far as his internship will allow. All my friends have teens, and they ALL, without exception, accompany their parents on trips and have fun on vacation. So I don't know what's wrong with your teens, PP, but your situation is not the norm. |
Anonymous
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I would skip it!! But I also don't love traveling. My son (18) is happy anywhere and my daughter (16) just complained our entire winter break trip because it wasn't a beach. She almost ruined the trip and I was annoyed I wasted money etc. Yes, she was being a brat, but I don't want to waste time if kids don't appreciate it. Especially a big Int'l trip.
This summer ironically we are going to London/Paris with them and they're pretty into I guess. I wanted to go to Europe before my son leaves for college next Fall.. not sure why.. then other than a beach for a few days, that's it for awhile. Plus we will be out of money w college lol |