10 Family Vacation Tips for Parents of Teens

Let your teen make some important choices.

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If you already know where you are going, have your teen plan out a day trip or the family’s daily itinerary. Give him/her resources to help with the choices they have, either online or with a printed guide book. The trick is to commit to do whatever your teen has chosen. If he/she wants to sleep in until 10 a.m. before starting the day, then that is what you should let him do. The only way you should change anything is if it wouldn’t work dynamically. For example, at Disney you can’t get from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom in 5 minutes. You’ll need to point these facts out to your teen and allow him/her to make the adjustments.

Here are some resources online for your family to use:

• About.com Travel has wonderful recommendations on places all over the world. We even have a Family Vacations site. There is also a great collection of travel videos.

• MapQuest is one of the best online tools I have ever used for road trip planning.

• More travel videos can be found at TravelVideo.TV.

• Be sure to get the weather forecast at Weather.com.

Index: 10 Family Vacation Tips for Parents of Teens

1. Let your teen make some important choices.
2. Give your teen the responsibility of having his/her own money to spend.
3. Give your teen the responsibilities of his/her own personal items.
4. Set the rules and limits up before you leave.
5. Planning a road trip? Let your teen do some of the driving.
6. Keep the peace.
7. Let your teen bring a friend.
8. Vacation separately, but together.
9. Remember that this is your vacation too.
10. Enjoy your teens company and create some fun memories.