Parenting | Summer Vacation | Humor
“Are We There Yet?” — Universal Laws for an Amazing Summer Vacation
Making good time or making great memories…
Full Disclosure: I pulled this column out of my secret content vault thinking it was going to need to do a lot of updates.
I was wrong.
Seems like maybe these universal laws are….
Wait for it…
Universal.
The updates I did add will be fairly obvious.
We enter now into a very strange summer.
“Is it safe to travel?”
“Is my mask waterproof?”
Etc…
With those thoughts in mind, here are
7 Universal Laws for Summer Vacations
The Law of Planning: It’s been said that “prior planning prevents poor performance.”
Planning for a vacation can be one of those interesting paradoxes of life:
The more you plan, the more room there is to have fun.
Amazingly, people in the same family can approach planning in very different ways.
For my first married vacation, we were heading from Florida to Pennsylvania.
My notion of planning was to clear my schedule for 2 weeks, throw some stuff in the car and head north. We’ll figure it out.
My then wife had a different idea of planning. Hotel reservations. AAA TripTiks. Every conceivable map known to man at that time.
I shoulda known then…
The Law of Plan B (or C, D, etc.): If it’s good to plan, then it’s also good to have a back-up plan, sometimes more than one.
What are you going to do if they have lost your reservation or your luggage? What are you going to do if the amusement park or other attraction you have traveled so far to see is closed for the day?
The Law of Good Time: Sometimes parents, and not just men, measure the worth of a vacation by how fast you can get from point A to point B.
Sorry to disappoint you, but being able to say “we made good time” is not the mark of a good vacation.
Instead of asking “how fast can we get there?” ask “in how many ways can we make this a very good time for everybody?”
Being able to say “we had a really good time” is the outcome you want.
Remember, the point is not to make good time, the point is to make good memories.
The Law of “Are We There Yet?”: If you are traveling with small children, it’s important to remember that their concept of time is very different from ours.
As a matter of fact, their perceptions and concepts of most things are very different from ours.
When it comes to state lines, time, or any other conceptual area, we have to put it in terms they will understand.
Have you ever tried the “finger approach” to understanding time? A finger equals one hour. So if a trip takes five hours, then it’s a five-finger trip.
The answer to the question “how much longeeeeeeerrrr!” then became two fingers if it was two hours.
I still haven’t figured out what fingers have to do with time, all I know is that it works.
Side Story: A few summers ago I took my youngest son and one of his buddies to a water park in the mountains.
We stayed in the hotel right across the street from the water park.
As in right across 2 minute walk right across.
Except you couldn’t leave your car in the hotel parking lot after you checked out.
So we had to drive across the street.
This is how I learned how many times 2 teenage boys can yell
“Are we there yet?”
and
“I gotta peeeeeee!”
in just 45 seconds.
The Law of Traditional Obligation: If going to the same place at the same time to see the same people works for you, then by all means go and have a good time.
If you are doing it only out of drudgery and obligation, perhaps this is the year to break with tradition and begin a few traditions of your own.
For the first 16 years of my life, no matter where we lived, we drove to visit my mom’s parents in Washington, DC for 2 weeks.
The summer after I turned 16 I asked:
“Could we go to the beach this summer instead?”
That was the fastest “YES!” I ever got from my Dad ;-)
The Law of Pace: Many families tell me they feel as if they need a vacation from their vacation when they return.
One reason is that many folks try to schedule their vacations just as they do the rest of their lives, which results in stress, irritation and disappointment.
If your vacation goal is to see as many people, places and things in as few days as possible, you need to change your vacation goals.
For that matter, why have goals on vacation anyway?
Slow down. Perhaps even stop. Enjoy a slower pace.
I know I’m starting to relax when I wonder what day it is, and then realize it doesn’t matter.
The Law of PRP: PRP stands for “Post Reinforcement Pause,” which is a fancy psychological way of describing what it feels like to get back to the normal routine after lots of good stuff.
Some folks struggle with feeling a little down as they get back to normal life after a vacation. One way to handle and prepare for this is to schedule something fun two or three weeks after you get back.
Having something to look forward to always helps.
So what are some of your “laws” or “rules” for a great summer vacation?
Let me know in the comments below.
And if we haven’t met yet, please allow me to introduce myself:
