All the time.

It’s fun for everybody.

It’s not like I don’t see my kids all the time when not on vacation. From some responses it looks like a lot of parents hardly spend time with their kids and vacation is their major time to bond.

I don’t have that issue so the more the merrier.

Anonymous wrote:I have an only child and from the time he was 8 or 9 we've been taking a friend with us on trips. It's so much more fun for him with someone his age there, and I actually find I learn more about him with a friend around to share as well. I'm actually at a point where if a friend CAN'T come along I'd likely rethink the trip, but that has not happened yet. It's always been 1 of 3 friends that he takes and I know all the parents fairly well. If we're flying the parents will cover the flight and we pay for everything else. We've done beach tirps, NYC trips, ski trips, and one international trip for 2 weeks. Never had a problem.

same here. I get bummed if another child can’t come.

I have an “only” child and I try to ALWAYS have her invite a friend. When traveling, you need even Numbers. I like to see the kids interact but it also allows me and hubby some private, alone time. I personally don’t even like travel with the 3 of us because most of the work falls on me as mom. I am the one starting the conversations, pointing out stuff and making suggestions. And it’s tiring. I’m on vacation too and I don’t always want to be “on”. My husband is there but not always present or engaging. LOL, he’s a man. Think of amusement park rides, carnival rides etc. They all require 2. And here’s a newsflash, I don’t always love talking to an 11 year old all day on vacation, not the most fun!! Then aren’t that deep.

I have an only child and from the time he was 8 or 9 we've been taking a friend with us on trips. It's so much more fun for him with someone his age there, and I actually find I learn more about him with a friend around to share as well. I'm actually at a point where if a friend CAN'T come along I'd likely rethink the trip, but that has not happened yet. It's always been 1 of 3 friends that he takes and I know all the parents fairly well. If we're flying the parents will cover the flight and we pay for everything else. We've done beach tirps, NYC trips, ski trips, and one international trip for 2 weeks. Never had a problem.

I never did it but wasn’t opposed to it when my kids were little. My DD accompanied a friend a few times to a beach house.

DS is an only and we took his best friend who is also an only to Philly last summer. It was just 3 days but it was a blast. We met up with my mom, got a hotel suite so the kids and adults were not on top of each other.

Best friend’s family invited DS to the beach with them but we were already on another trip.

I can see it being hard if you have many kids but having an only child, for us taking a child with us or going on vacation with other families is great. The later we have done 3 times, Caribbean, Mexico, and California. All were great.

Yes. And we are happy to do it. I was a kid taken on a lot of vacations/trips (we were poor) and I loved it. Wouldn’t have been able to go if not for the invites. I am so happy to be able to do this for my children and others as well. We pay for everything. If something comes up that I’m uncertain if other parents would allow, we ask.

My brother used to go on ski trips with a friend’s family. I’m not sure what my parents paid for v what the other family paid for. I’m sure they didn’t charge for lodging but he had a credit card and may have paid for his own lift tickets. We always went on family vacations with our cousins who were pretty close in age so we never got to bring a friend along. I did go to the Delaware beaches with a friend’s family a few times, around 7th grade. And my elementary school best friend and I would spend a week or two with my grandparents and go to day camp in their city during the day. It was fun.

My parents have a beach house, and we bring DD's friends often over the summer. It's easy and keep her entertained.

My kids are a bit young but yes, I hope to do this. My sister’s kids are older and they always took their daughters’ friends along on road trips to their second home in Florida. Nothing extravagant, but I think there’s something to be said for always welcoming one more.

Anonymous wrote:No absolutely not and will never, ever do this ever in my life.

I was taken on trips with friends as a kid. And I hated it.

This seems like a very...strong response for the subject matter.

Yes, we did this for the first time last spring break — DD brought her BFF along to Florida and it was just wonderful. But we had a condo and there was room for her anyway. We paid for plane ticket, meals, and the few activities we did. (Marco Island, so most of the vacation was just hanging at the beach/pool). Friend is quiet and well behaved and we have known her and her family for years. There is a pretty big age gap between DD1 (15) and DD 2 (10) so it was really nice for DD1 to have someone along who was interested in the things she wanted to do. And DD2 is perfectly content to hang out with us.

For this spring break we are going to Jamaica with another family — parents included, and their kids are 14, 13, and 10, which I’m looking forward to as well. We’ve never done something like this but I think it will be fun.

I was invited along on a few friends' family trips as a kid (my parents were immigrants of modest origin, plus we were a big family and there truly would have been no room on ours!) We have done for all 4 of our kids and they have been on similar trips with their friends. We've done everything from just the friend to inviting extra families if we rent house that already have more than enough bedrooms. We do go to a pretty amazing place overseas most New Years and when we let 'kids' invite their boy friends/girlfriends we do NOT pay for their plane tickets but don't charge for rooms, etc. Love my kids and their friends. In all the years there was only one bad guest (15yo) - and he was such a bad guest it was almost comical. (Examples - he was always saying ohhh - I don't have change can you buy me this whatever store after store until I finally said break the damn $20 kid. Also - his parents had given him money to bring us out to dinner one of the nights and honestly - we never would have accepted but then he insisted on getting my kids ice cream after putt putt and paid for single scoop for each and got elaborate sundae for himself....oh and hid on the last morning when we were rushing around doing the packing and minimal beach house clean up.)

Anonymous wrote:We have a beach house that we use a lot. We take my kids’ friends all the time. They are with us anywhere from 2 to 11 days.

We pay for everything. We try to accommodate their food preferences and interests. Occasionally we have a kid with medical issues so we sometimes have medications to deal with.

They sometimes need a break from each other. When I see that I just ask one of the kids to help me with something or I set them up in an activity. But they can always also read or play on heir phones. Plus I have three kids and most of our guests will hang with any of my kids.

I’ve take. Kids as young as four and as old as HS. Never had any issues, not even homesickness. I think FaceTime helps with that. A few times it was the guest’s first time seeing the ocean. That is always fun.

Y’all sound fun!

Yes, we did this when I was growing up. My best friend and I went on each other’s family trips.

Anonymous wrote:We have a beach house that we use a lot. We take my kids’ friends all the time. They are with us anywhere from 2 to 11 days.

We pay for everything. We try to accommodate their food preferences and interests. Occasionally we have a kid with medical issues so we sometimes have medications to deal with.

They sometimes need a break from each other. When I see that I just ask one of the kids to help me with something or I set them up in an activity. But they can always also read or play on heir phones. Plus I have three kids and most of our guests will hang with any of my kids.

I’ve take. Kids as young as four and as old as HS. Never had any issues, not even homesickness. I think FaceTime helps with that. A few times it was the guest’s first time seeing the ocean. That is always fun.

Exactly this.

We also took DS’s (10yo) friend to Orlando last year, a day a Universal plus three other days of pool and touristy stuff. We paid, because we invited him.