Traveling with your pubescent may seem like there is no point in traveling and wasting your money because people generally travel to let go of the stressful life and routine. Believe it or not, your teenager causes more than half of your stress, so how do you relieve stress on a holiday with your teenager around? Let’s dig into different ideas in which you can save your family holiday and make it absolutely drama-free.
Traveling With Teens
It is not easy traveling with your kids especially when they are at a stage where they wish to be treated like adults but cannot stop acting like 9-year-olds. It is not easy for you both, so how about set all the differences aside and accept that your teenager is naturally supposed to be the way they are and give them their space and time to grow out of it.
You’re an adult so you can understand their behavior because you have been through that stage as well. And remember, when you decide to travel with teens, consider them as adults but also be careful of their childish behavior. You need to be cautious as well as carefree, both at the same time.
Planning An Itinerary
Before any holiday plan, making an itinerary is essential. Being aware of the total traveling cost, time, potential activities, and places to visit; basically, a planned general timeline of the entire holiday gives you time and space to live in the moment.
Once you have everything jotted down, you will have a hundred fewer things to worry about and will actually be able to focus on enjoying your time with your family.
Most of the time, whenever people plan to go on spontaneous adventures, they end up looking around whether what to do since they never considered making an itinerary. That eventually leads to an unfortunate holiday, thus, ruining the family time. That’s why itinerary is important as it gives direction, a sense of destination, and an opportunity to enjoy their holiday without having to worry about anything else.
Involve Your Teens In Your Planning
As mentioned earlier, treat your teenagers like adults and that will give them a sense of responsibility. Whatsoever you plan for the holidays, make sure to ask for your teens’ input.
There are certain places or things to look out for that you might not know and they can suggest it to you. Given that, when you involve your teens in planning, make sure you give their opinion some feedback, even if they are not right, tell them why their suggestion is not feasible, and if their opinion is right then give them positive feedback and appreciate them.
Places You Both Are Looking Forward To Seeing Together
When you plan your holiday, ask all the family members especially your teenagers regarding what places they would love to visit. If a teenager is going to a place they have no interest in, the possibility is that they will be rolling their eyes at your excitement.
So better is to think about your teens as well and plan something special for them, too. It makes the holiday more bearable for the whole family as everyone gets to share their excitement and joy with the whole family.
Only Carry Travel Backpacks and Nothing More
Most of the time, holidays with families are a hassle because there is just too much luggage. Luggage cannot be carried around everywhere, thus, settling down the luggage consumes a lot of time and money out of your travel plans.
Therefore, settle down for carrying a travel backpack for each member of the family carrying their own stuff. It will be a physical challenge for your sedentary-habitual-self but you will possibly lose those extra pounds and get blessed by a lean body by the end of your holidays.
Don’t Forget The Wi-Fi
Wherever you go for holidays, be it a forest in Brazil or a southeast Asian island, everyone needs Wi-Fi. Do not forget to pick up a portable Wi-Fi device to stay connected to the internet at all times.
So whenever you’re boring your kids, they will have the internet to rely on, meanwhile, you can continue to enjoy your thing. Another benefit of having internet at all times is that whenever you might need to book a car, food, or check your bank balance, you can use the internet there and then, rather than rely on the hotel Wi-Fi.
Go Exploring On Your Own
Give your teenagers a chance to go alone and explore the places on their own. Even if they do not ask, request them to go out and have fun.
By doing that, you are giving them an opportunity to be independent, confident, and responsible for themselves. And mostly, teenagers like exploring places on their own without their parents constantly nagging them to follow them and stay close.
But despite their wishes, you as a parent cannot stop worrying about their safety. In such a case you can use parental monitoring app called XNSPY. Through that app, you can get access to your teenager’s cell phone and can easily monitor their location through your own cell phone or laptop. Since you will be carrying Wi-Fi at all times, you will have nothing to worry about while monitoring your children and enjoying your holiday.
Camping Experience
Wherever you take your family to holidays, be it Bahamas, Hawaii, or Bali, nothing beats a good old camping trip. Give your teenagers an experience of camping in the woods. Teach them all the basic stuff that your parents once might have taught you during one of your early camping trips. Everyone wants to go to an exotic island for holidays because apparently, beautiful nature exists only there.
They do not know that backyard camping or camping in the woods, where they are too scared to go at night, is one of nature’s most rich areas itself. Excite your teenagers about the feel of camping and how it will bring the whole family together. Tell them about the bonfire on which they will roast marshmallows and will have good family time.
On a camping trip, you and your teenagers will be working hand-in-hand to set up tents and you will get them to help you around with food and everything, so, it’s a great way to spend a holiday with your teens.
Do Not Forget To Let Go And Enjoy!
Sometimes, with families around, you worry too much and forget to enjoy your holidays. Trust me on this: even your children do not like their parents being bossy outside of the house.
So, when you go out with your teens to leave the nagging and bossing around at home. You have come out of your house to travel and enjoy these days, make the most of it. If you will be happy and carefree, your teenagers will follow-in and enjoy the holidays with you rather than constantly disappoint you.