How to create cherished family memories while on vacation together

“Build traditions of family vacations and trips and outings. These memories will never be forgotten by your children.” Ezra Taft Benson DREADING SCHOOL HOLIDAYS? rnBeen in a situation of something going terribly wrong in an unfamiliar place while on a family vacation? Have school holidays and family vacations become a source of dread that feature on the horizon, long before they appear? Some parents, especially mothers find family holidays to be stressful and unfortunately even more so than daily life. If you’ve been in this situation, it must have been hard and perhaps it colours your experience for the future as well? And yet, many people talk about creating family traditions of trips and holidays to create family memories for your children. Is that even possible? What is it that they manage that you haven’t been able to? If you’ve felt pressure from having to plan and go on family holidays, here’s how to change the situation to create cherished family memories instead. In the attempt to get through daily routines and normal life, we often lose track sometimes. It's quite obvious when we think about it that good relationships and loving family bonds endure over decades. So it's something then we should consider putting effort into. "The treasured gift therefore that you can give your children is fond family memories." rnA PRACTICAL APPROACH TO CREATING FAMILY MEMORIES Here’s a pragmatic way to go about creating fond family memories that you can look back on with a smile. 1.Think like a child How many of your holidays do you remember from your childhood? Use your own memories to remember what appealed to you and what created the best family memories for you. Some context of today’s world should be applied but rather than do what everyone else is doing, perhaps this will give you a start on what you want to do. One of my fond family memories is of one of the last holidays my parents, sister and I had before I left home. We were all set to visit a tea estate in exotic Kerala. But we had a puncture about 10 minutes after we left the nearest town. It took a while figuring out what to do in this new place. Finally, hours later, we got ourselves going but it meant that we arrived so much later than we planned to on the tea estate. I remember my sister clutching onto me as we wound our way through a pitch-dark tea estate surrounded by tea bushes. She started worrying if there were wild animals around. Of course, I couldn’t resist making some strange sounds to add to her woes. She screamed and complained to mum. The next morning when we woke up and found ourselves surrounded by verdant green tea as far as the eye could see drenched in dewy mist, we thought it was the most beautiful sight we had seen. Years on, now she and I have our own families, we’ve realise that that holiday was one of the best ones and we have such fond family memories of it. It’s the absurd, the funny and even frightening that stay with us to create memories. 2. Balance is key Some mothers want to plan every minute of the holiday and obsess over military precision. This causes them frustration trying to get their families in line and makes it stressful for those who find that level of planning difficult to cope with. Experience has shown that taking last minute laid back impulsive approach doesn’t always work, particularly when you are travelling with small children. But try for a balance between planning which is the mindset of an organised adult and spontaneity, one of the liberating aspects of being a a child. rn3. Change your idea of what a family holiday needs to be to create family memories Family Holidays don’t need to be about money & expense – it’s about attitude and experience and doing something different. I remember that my father used to be hard at work most of the time. But during our school holidays, he took days off just to be at home and look after us. Those days of playing all day with our dad looking after us also hold fond memories for my sister and me. Family Holidays don’t need to be just about mum, dad & kids but can be with grandparents, larger family and or friends. We had our share of having aunts and uncles from out of town coming home to stay during the summer or winter holidays. Those were as much fun creating family memories of even a day trip of twenty of us heading to the sea side. CONCLUSION Family holidays have been stressful for you. But it can be changed easily. Stop for a minute, close your eyes and imagine yourself in 30 years sitting down with your children and their families for an Easter, Christmas or a Thanksgiving family get together. Picture the moment of all of you joking around the table and recalling fond memories of those family vacations. That laughter and bond thirty years on is what you are investing in by creating beautiful family memories for your children and yourself. So you owe it to yourself and to your children to re-look at taking the stress out of family holidays. “Some memories are unforgettable, remaining ever vivid and heart-warming!” Joseph B. Wirthlinrn