Family summer holidays: ups and downs

Most of us don't get enough time to spend with the people we love the most. Summer family holidays are designed to be great times to reconnect parents and their children. I hope to help you make your family's summer vacation much more enjoyable than you expect Honestly, relatives have their place. Many great adventures happen when cousins can spend more time making memories.

Here are my best suggestions that have been discovered during 25 years of holiday practice in spending a week or two with family properly - . And you can learn from my mistakes too. I hope these tips will guide you to more successes on your vacation this year.

1. Slower

A change of pace and a change of place is required. You need to relax and your children need to relax. For working couples: As much as possible, try to get rid of the last arm of the office octopus. Can you really say no to your business in such a short time? I found it very difficult to do this. I usually go on vacation with a lot of (loads) because I had to get a lot of work done before I left for my vacation. After that, it will take me 3 to 4 days to mentally free myself from my normal responsibilities. As stupid as it sounds, I was starting to prepare again 2-3 days before we went home. Perhaps worse than this crazy work addiction was that I was guilty for several years thinking I was too busy to take my assigned vacations. I was wrong. My family was affected by this and so was me.

So, work to move away from the normal routine when it's time for your vacation. Go somewhere. Try camping even if only a few times. This is true family bonding. Staying up together for a longer period ... Less sleep periods.....

Be careful that your vacation is subject to your schedule: Be careful to make yourself a slave to a program that leads you.

2. Rejoice

Count how many times you can make your kids laugh, and don't make them laugh!

Start gaming, fun and madness! Make sure they play what they want to play and not you. You can master the use of travel time, and we did it before the digital video era. There were a large number of interactive games for cars. We were playing "spying with my little eyes" or "buggy" or even creating a visual chase game. Allow time to read but also make a mess. Don't be party spoilers. Conduct games for children. Make all possible pranks Try to have fun Everyone capture these moments to create family memories. Choose (Facebook Moment) every day to post! Occasional learning while traveling and interacting is a good thing. But please be careful when trying to convince children that "learning" is fun. Remember that vacation will be a change in their pace of life as well.

3. Closure

Power dropped. Take a breath and yes, turn off the electronics. Even better is to get out of range of mobiles disconnect from your electronics. They agreed on time intervals of the day that everyone can enjoy, but in general, the most important thing is to make the family holiday a time for "us". Technology has allowed us to take our work with us more and more. Between mobile phones, emails, text messages, and Skype, you have a virtual office wherever you are. Be disciplined to disconnect and communicate where it really matters. My grandson discovered the source of my cell phone distraction when he wanted my full attention. He pushed the phone away as I grabbed it to look at something. He knew I wasn't perfect with him. I think that alone makes it as difficult to be a father today as it was 15 years ago.

4. Dilution

The bases can fade a little. I think this is fine because it is a family holiday. You know the warning "you can't swim for an hour after eating" that many of us grew up with. It's an imaginary warning! I'd better skip lunch if I can't keep swimming. So, as a father, I deliberately put my children in the water after lunch and stood awake to see if they would drown. No one did. Ah what I had to endure as a child. And what is the story of children and fire? Camping may be the right time to let them play with fire, although I do realize that there is a complete ban on lighting a fire now. Try new and crazy events and activities. See some unusual landmarks. Look at life from the point of view of your children. You can rent or borrow quad bikes, bikes, kayaks and anything to do something different. We tried cliff jumping, water fights, collecting creatures - mice, salamanders, snakes, spiders, beetles, bedbugs, worms, slugs, small birds, larvae and more. Live life and learn about life.

5. Step down

The holiday should be a "no-fight zone": mom and dad need to put aside their small or big differences for some time and do their best to make happy memories for everyone. Undo issues: We agree to disagree. Show more patience. Don't ruin the moment with your attitudes and reactions as you have sometimes done. On many occasions, my Type A character may want to master today's schedule. In my opinion, I was doing it for them, giving them more time at the big event or activity. But my opportunistic impatience did not give way to good feelings among us. It was far from a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. It has become Hitler's feast! Parents can relax and have fun before the main event is scheduled.

6. Look up

Associate your moments with gratitude to the Lord. God is not only on holidays. He would like to go with you on your family vacation. Open and end the day by praying as a family. Visit places of worship in the area where you reside. Talk about what's different. Share your stories when you were their age and how God influenced you at the time. Try to create at least one life and share time with God. They sang worship songs in the car together. Share what God teaches you. Do a "What you are grateful for" session at the end of the day. Thank God for safety, for having fun and for building a stronger family. Keep perspective. God wants you to have a great marriage and a strong family. Take it with you this summer.

You'll never regret putting your marriage and family first this summer!