How to Get Your Teenager to Love Vacation Time

Going on a family vacation can be very stressful if you have a teenager that thinks it is just the pits. Spending time with the family can be very "uncool" to the budding teenager that is trying to find their way. There are some tried and true ways to guarantee that your vacation can go smoothly in the face of this.

Consider what they are feeling. It was not that long ago that you were in the shoes they now fill. You have to remember that what they are going through is a normal transition from teenager to adult, and should have some empathy. To often as parents, we embrace the dictatorship, and do not consider that our decisions can be flexible. I am not advocating that you cater to every whim. Just cater to some of them. Most kids respond very well when we compromise on some of the decisions.

Involve them in the planning of the trip. This really helps to loosen the strings a bit if you do it right. Come up with a couple of acceptable ideas for the vacation and let them choose. Two or three choices are much better than simply announcing yet another trip to Grandma's house. The teenager will then feel as though they are involved and will more readily embrace the decision made. If the trip itself is not flexible, then maybe you can give options about the route, or method you will travel. Find something about the vacation that they can decide on their own. It creates ownership, and you get a better buy in.

Create a side trip just for them. Teenagers interests are wild and varied, and their is always something along the way that could be special just for them. Find a pit stop along the way, and set up a side trip just for them. Give them input on this and find out what they really want. It doesn't have to be something expensive or complicated. Just something they will enjoy and look forward to for themselves.

Give them space on a regular basis. Needless to say, we have to be careful about letting our kids wander. That does not mean that our children have to walk right by our side through the mall while their fellow teenagers laugh at our black socks and shorts. Our lack of fashion and fad skills need not be a source of our kid's eternal damnation. Let them walk a few steps ahead or behind. There will come a day when we will have the benefit of being socially silly and they will love us for it. This is not that time, so give them a break and hang back.

Do not dump the other kids off on them. This is certainly near the top of the list. This is the teenager's vacation too, and it can quickly become a week long babysitting job if you let it. Many teenagers are given the bulk of the child watching duties on a vacation, and it is no wonder they resent it. They didn't create those children, we did. Let's remember that, and not put it off on our teenager.

Let them be themselves. Being surly is being a teenager. If you give them the chance to break out of it, they will. Just make yourself available and remember what it was like when you were them. Vacations can be fantastic if we play our role of adult, and bend when needed.