7 Reasons Travel with Teenagers is the Best Family Travel
1. Make Awesome Memories Together
As your little darlings get older, they spend more time with friends and less time with parents. It’s just the way things are. Trust me, I am attempting to accept this myself! While your teens may not realize it in the moment, the memories you make while experiencing new places, cultures, and people (the basics of traveling) will stick with them for many years to come. At some point, they will look back at these critical years and remember the “good times.” At least I hope so! They also will remember that you spent time with them bonding through family adventure travel.
2. Witness their First Experiences
Watching your kiddo experience something for the first time from their first Hawaiian Luau to their first seven day Cruise is an unbelievably awesome experience. Their eyes light up with excitement and it is all worth the cost and stress! Many parents ask how to deal with teenage attitude and particularly how to deal with teenage daughter attitude. My answer is always to focus on bonding with your teen. The best way to connect with your teenage child I have found is through family travel adventures. When teens are on vacation, they seem to let their guard down and connect more with the family.
3. Teach Them Life Lessons
I remember the first time I took my kiddo on a plane. My son was very nervous and also excited. In fact, he was so excited that he spilled his Starbucks everywhere at the airport terminal! I got to teach him all about airplane travel from where to put his carryon bag to when he can get out of his seat to go to the restroom. His questions never stopped (in a good way.) I felt like I was back in the classroom and it filled me with a sense of purpose and opportunity. You don’t want to miss the chance to help your teens navigate through experiences because there is always a lesson to be had. Moms teach, dads teach, we all teach children respect and about life all the time even if we don’t realize it.
4. They Bring Perspective and Excitement to Vacations
Teenagers look at the world differently than adults. They think some things are hilarious that you would just ignore (like the random weird ice-cream at a resort flavored like cheese.) Teens are also unpredictable so you are always on your toes. This can be annoying but mostly fun!
5. You Get to do Things you Wouldn’t Normally Do
Teenagers like teenagery (not a word yet but that’s okay) stuff. They want to go to dance parties on cruises, ride crazy fair rides, and go parasailing for example. When they get excited, ya gotta go for it and seize the opportunity, so you get to experience crazy fair rides too!
6. Get Them Outdoors and Active
They say “sitting is the new smoking” (whoever “they” are). This is especially true for teenagers. They love sitting around the house on their phones or tablets oblivious to the beautiful world outside. When traveling, they want to explore so are more motivated to go for a hike, swim, or ride bikes. Travel keeps them healthy and active. A bonus is that they also tend to get way less screen time.
7. Broaden their Perspectives
All kids know about the world is what they have been taught and seen. When you take them on family travel adventures, they learn that the world is much larger than they realized. It can be a humbling and lasting experience as they see how the world truly doesn’t revolve around their home town or themselves.)
Traveling with tweens and teens is a truly amazing experience that always ends up being an adventure! I hope you can focus on the good instead of worrying about what could go wrong. Let me know where you take your tribe next in the comments and please subscribe to this blog for freebies and family travel tips!
