We have begun thinking about where we can go as a family this summer.
We love road trips, with fishing and boating on cool lakes and camping in rugged campgrounds and savoring orange and red sunsets then roasting marshmallows at toasty campfires.
The summer can get so booked up when you have tweens and teens at home; they get so busy. Between the twins’ work schedule and camps and concerts and time with their friends, and our middle schooler’s various activities and camps, you just need to begin talking about it sooner rather than later. We are later this year.
The twins are both working at the pool as lifeguards this summer and their June and early July were already booked up, and I got a bit worried, so we made sure to sit down with them to talk about a time when we could go later in the summer.
In between all the end of the school year activities, we made sure that our family conversations these past days have centered on what we are doing as a family, together, something we have tried to make a priority.
In the midst of some of these conversations, our youngest son, Gus, who is 12 and finishing up his sixth grade year, says to me:
“Can we buy a flat screen TV instead of going on vacation?”
Okay people, where did I go wrong? Smile, laugh, and chuckle. Keeping it real here.
I know my son is kidding just a little bit while he is also serious just a little bit. He’s wanted a flat screen TV for our family room downstairs for some time now. You cannot play the XBOX on the “regular” TV that is downstairs. So, when we are watching a movie upstairs and he has to be downstairs with his friends, he is bummed.
Yeah, first world problems, right?
We are balancing our funds right now while definitely keeping a downstairs flat screen TV for the family room on our purchasing radar. But, not right now.
Yet, a bigger lesson that I try to emphasize with our children is the importance of experiencing adventure together. Vacations are a time of adventure for families.
While I was growing up in my German family, our parents took us to Germany to see family, which gave me a love for traveling. Our Christmases were never big but we got to go to Germany as a family. I learned an important lesson from my parents, a lesson that I try to always emphasize with my kids by living it out.
In family life, experience is always more important than material goods. Get out and explore and adventure together. Emphasize experiences more than material goods in family life.
Now, to get my kid to understand.
And, to be fair, Gus always loves our family road trip vacations; he just also likes his X-Box. Maybe, he’s dreaming of both this summer.
(Previous in A Thought a Day on Parenting, for 31 Days: Day 2: Kids Want Danger)
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