It shouldn’t come as a surprise when your teenage children balk at your announcement that the family is heading to Provo Canyon for your annual vacation. While they loved every minute hiking across this canyon as kids, it doesn’t mean they will still love it now that they are a little bit older.
It’s the same as having your whole family’s health taken care of by a doctor specializing in family medicine in Orem. Eventually, your children will find their own doctors to receive treatment. They will feel that spending time with the family in a canyon won’t be as exciting as being on their own.
But, it doesn’t have to be this way. Here are ways to get your teenage kids excited about your annual trips.
Ask for their suggestions
One of the reasons some teenagers dislike joining family vacations is they’ve probably outgrown the usual places you go to. Maybe your daughter’s too old to go to Disneyland or maybe your son’s tired of getting dirty on a camping trip.
If you want your trip to be more enjoyable for everyone, ask your kids there they really want to go to. If they want to go to the beach, then go. Perhaps you can take the whole family to California and enjoy the sun and sand of the beaches there.
Let them help with the planning
If your children are going to decide where the family will go on vacation this year, then let them plan it out. Let them figure out which hotels or resorts to go to and plan out the budget for the trip. Of course, letting them do it all by themselves could be overwhelming, so be ready to lend a helping hand when they need it.
The purpose of this is to teach them not to take things for granted. Most teenagers do that because they don’t see the effort their parents go through just to plan a trip for the whole family. If they see that planning a family trip is tedious, they will learn to appreciate it more when they see you getting giddy about your next summer vacation.
Bring them to universities
Teenagers are often eager to grow up and live like adults. Why don’t you bring your teenage kids to universities nearby? Let them see the environment where they will be immersed a few years from now. This way, you’ll be helping them imagine what their lives would be once they transition from being a teenager to being a young adult.
Teenagers are prone to wanting a life of their own because they’re nearing that line that separates adults from children. And every child who senses that is just so eager to become an adult. But, it shouldn’t come between your efforts to bring a family together.
As long as you use the suggestions above, you can enjoy a family vacation without your teenagers sulking in one corner. They might even tell you when they are older that your family trips were her best memories growing up.
