When do kids/teens not want to do summer travel with parents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High school. You start hitting summer jobs, fall sports practice, and being heavily invested in spending time with friends. I certainly could make my kids go with me but my 10th would be grumpy about it and/or missing out of experiences I think are good for him here. My newly minted 8th grader would still have been pretty content doing family stuff all summer but it gets harder and harder.

^ both still like to travel with us, but more than 2 weeks is hard with older one (in the past we’d do 6 week road trips)

[Anonymous]

My kids are in HS and still love traveling with us because we are going to cook places in Europe, Asia and South America.

We do about 2 vacations, about 8 or 9 days all before second week of august.

No fussing. They can’t wait. Next summer is South America and cruising by Antarctica.

[Anonymous]

That’s a long time, especially if one of them has a girlfriend or boyfriend. Six weeks is a lifetime to a teen in love!

[Anonymous]

Family vacation is one thing but 6-7 weeks is a relocation. My 21 year olds still love to vacation with us but we do normal one week summer vacations.

[Anonymous]

OP, (and a couple of DPs) how do you manage 6-7 weeks of summer travel? I don't know anyone where both parents can take that much time off.

My teen still likes to travel with us, but we don't go anywhere more than 2 weeks. Frankly, *I* wouldn't be happy traveling for more than a couple of weeks in one stretch during the summer.

[Anonymous]

Could work always, if there is enough to do in the vacation spot (eg cousins or summer friends to hang out with).

I used to go for a month to my parents’ home country every other year even in HS bc I enjoyed reconnecting with that part of my family and culture.

[Anonymous]

6-7 weeks is way too long. I’d say by 12 they won’t want to do that. Why not scale back to 7-10 day trips but break them up?

[Anonymous]

I've traveled a lot with my kids over the years, and they love it over the summers (adventures in Europe, Africa, Asia you name it) -- but the fact of the matter is that by the time a kid is a sophomore in high school, they will be planning their summers around cool internships, jobs, etc., and maybe not have more than a week to travel with parents or in general.

So, if your kid is 10 now, I would guess you have about 3 more summers left- enjoy it!! We have also traveled for extended times/weeks (more like 7 weeks spread out over the summer, not consecutively) until kids in high school.

Make the most of the limited time -- it's less that they don't want to see you, and more that they have their own 'commitments" for activities as they get older.

[Anonymous]

Mine still love traveling as teens but not for 6-7 weeks! We usually travel as a family for two weeks and maybe a couple weekend trips thrown in. Then they have time for friends, sports and specialty camps. My oldest also started working this year by choice.

[Anonymous]

My 13yo skipped going to Asia with us this past summer to play his sport. DH also was home working though. Dh can’t take a month off to go to Asia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, (and a couple of DPs) how do you manage 6-7 weeks of summer travel? I don't know anyone where both parents can take that much time off.

My teen still likes to travel with us, but we don't go anywhere more than 2 weeks. Frankly, *I* wouldn't be happy traveling for more than a couple of weeks in one stretch during the summer.

IME, the mom doesn’t work and the dad only goes for part.

[Anonymous]

A 6-7 week vacation is highly unusual, you must know that. It’s unlikely that others here also take that long of trips and would be able to comment on when their kids stopped Wanting to take these massive times away from friends, sports, activities, etc..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, (and a couple of DPs) how do you manage 6-7 weeks of summer travel? I don't know anyone where both parents can take that much time off.

My teen still likes to travel with us, but we don't go anywhere more than 2 weeks. Frankly, *I* wouldn't be happy traveling for more than a couple of weeks in one stretch during the summer.

The families I know who do this don’t take the entire time off. They can work remotely. Also, in some cases one spouse is a teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't do this, but my DD is a junior and one of her close friends goes back to their home country every summer for basically the entire summer. Doing anything else isn't an option, so the friend doesn't even complain about it and likes seeing the family there.

FWIW, if your DC is going to play a fall sport, practices start at the beginning of August in high school.

It can be a tricky balancing act but ultimately up to you as the parent. And everyone's priorities are different, not every kid is into comp sports etc. One of my kids would have tapped out of family trips at age 8 if it were their choice; my other loves to go everywhere they can with family. My best friend and her family go back to their home country every summer for six weeks; they really prioritized maintaining those relationships and that culture since they've lived in the US for 20 years now. Her youngest daughter is heading off to college this fall and for the past couple of years has found herself a summer job there (dual citizen). Her older kids go for a couple of weeks and come back "home" to the US, but that was when they were in college or just out. Maybe that's an eventual option for you, assuming you stay in once place vs. relocating now and then?

[Anonymous]

My 13 yo loves travel and visiting family, but between my work schedule and a couple of random specialty camps, it does get tricky to get away for a long stretch of time during thecsummer. You might be better off doing multiple short vacations. Like all things with parenting, this stage won't last forever.