The Parent’s Guide to Keeping Their Cool While Traveling with Their Teen – all you need to know.
Taking your teen abroad can be a wonderful experience, a chance to spend time together, to bond, and to enjoy yourselves as a family. However, as all parents know, teens can be a handful when they are developing and becoming more independent, and traveling with them does present unique challenges.
As a parent traveling with their teen, it is important to find a balance between providing guidance, setting boundaries, and allowing them freedom and independence. Whether you are setting sail for sun-soaked destinations from Florida, driving down Route 66 on a road trip, or riding the rails around Europe’s cultural capitals, here are a few tips on how to make the journey fun and harmonious for everyone.
The Parent’s Guide to Keeping Their Cool While Traveling with Their Teen
Read on for some top tips.
Involve Teens in Planning
Getting your teen engaged with the vacation is one of the best ways to avoid issues and involving them in the planning process can help enormously with this, giving them a stake in the trip from the very beginning.
You can start off by discussing where you are planning to go and what you are planning to do, taking their preferences into account when it comes to choosing destinations and activities. If they feel like they have an input and they are being listened to it can make a huge difference. It also, unsurprisingly, helps if the vacation caters to their interests and preferences, as this will help keep them interested and make everything more enjoyable for everyone.
Then give them a few small tasks and responsibilities to take care of, perhaps putting together a packing list or choosing the accommodation. This will help them take an interest and get involved.
Set Clear Expectations
All too often, a lack of clear communication between parents and teens can lead to conflict, particularly when traveling. As a result, it is vital to set firm expectations at the beginning of the trip and keep talking things through as the vacation goes on. Discuss what you expect from your teen in terms of behavior, and ask them what they need or want from you and from the trip. This can help them feel more mature and ensure that everyone understands where they stand.
Balance Structure and Freedom
The key to a great vacation with older kids and teens is to get the balance right between structure and freedom. Finding the ideal blend of planned activities and free time allows teens to enjoy themselves and feel mature, helps give parents some time to themselves, as well as ensuring that there are still sufficient boundaries in place.
It is therefore important to plan a few key activities each day but to ensure plenty of time for flexibility and free time. It is also vital that you allow your teens space to do their own thing. Having regular check-ins throughout the day means that outside those moments you can let your teens explore on their own, which will allow them to feel trusted and independent.
Embrace the Unexpected
Traveling is always full of unexpected moments, from changed plans and spontaneous decisions to challenges and speed bumps. Maintaining a positive attitude and embracing a flexible approach when things change or go wrong is a great way to set a good example for your teen. Using humor to keep the mood light is a great way to deal with problems, and remembering that minor inconveniences shouldn’t become major issues will make everyone’s break better.
Traveling with teens should be something you look forward to – a valuable, rewarding experience to look forward to. By keeping the above tips in mind you can guarantee a successful trip for you and your kids. Happy travels!
Further reading
Cool things mums and teen sons can do together
