Taking small children on family vacations works best if you put away some of your preconceived notions about what they will enjoy and how they will react to things. Young children will often fixate in mundane, totally unexpected things like bus rides and ice machines instead of on more important experiences, which can be exasperating. However, fixating too much on how your children will react to things can be a distraction from your own enjoyment of the vacation, so try to manage your own expectations.

Key Takeaways:

• When on a family trip this summer, you have to manage your expectations otherwise you and your children could end up disappointed.
• Sometimes, your children could be interested in an experience that you care nothing about during the trip when the one you hyped meant nothing to them.
• On one trip, the author took her two teenage boys to see a show, Stomp, she cared so much about only for the boys to sleep throughout the show.

“My friend Lisa realized this after taking her son Bob around the world before the age of five, and then hearing him say his favorite part of his travels was the hotel ice machines. My friend Nancy’s daughter’s favorite part about their two-week trip to Spain was the toast she ate at the airport. “She could have done that in our kitchen,” Nancy groaned.”

Read more: https://alphamom.com/family-fun/travel-family-fun/family-trip-advice-manage-expectations/