If you don’t often take trips with your family, you’re missing out. Sometimes, you might not have the money or the time to take such a trip. However, if several years go by without you taking a vacation as a family, you’re missing out on bonding opportunities.
In this article, we’ll talk about times when it might make sense to take the family on a trip.
You Have a Teen Working Toward Getting Their Driver’s License
Maybe you have multiple children, and you have some older and younger ones. This can sometimes happen if you have two parents who remarry after divorcing their original spouses. They will form a blended family with their kids.
You may have some very young children, and they may not like long car trips much. Children under age four must sit in a suitable car seat, and that’s not much fun if you’re driving all the way across the country. However, if you have a teen in the family who’s getting ready to take their driver’s license test, you might feel a road trip makes sense for that reason.
You can give the aspiring licensed driver some time behind the wheel while on this car trip. If they have their learner’s permit, then they can legally drive, as long as they have another licensed driver in the vehicle.
You might not want to take a trip that includes multiple days of driving, since your younger kids probably don’t have that much patience. Taking a day trip makes sense, though.
You can all spend time together as a family, and your teen can get some practice driving on the highway. Hopefully, that will make them more confident when they get back and take the driving part of their test.
When You Get a Cash Windfall
You may feel like it makes sense to take a family trip if you ever get a cash windfall. Often, it’s hard to plan a trip and to save up the money for it.
You might have a savings account into which you put money every week, thinking that you will use the cash to take a family trip at some point. That’s fine, but it can take you a long time to save up enough.
Instead, you might feel you should take a family trip right after you get a refund on your tax return. You can always spend that money on home improvements or something equally practical, but sometimes, it’s nice to splurge and to do something nice for the family.
You might also take a trip with the family when you get some via an inheritance if a relative dies. Again, you could use that money for something practical, but if you and the rest of the family have not taken a vacation in a while, you may feel like all of you could use one.
Before You Have a Child Leave for College
You might choose to take a family vacation if you have a child who just graduated from high school and who will leave for college shortly. When that happens, maybe they’re still going to live with you. If they’re going to a school that’s in your city, you might still see them often.
However, maybe they’re leaving and they will move across the country. Perhaps they got into a school that’s prestigious, but it’s far away.
If you’re in that situation, then you probably feel a lot of pride for your child. They’re becoming an adult and moving out on their own. You also know that this means things will change, though.
You will probably never have a time again when you have all your kids living under the same roof. You may want to take a vacation so that you can make some last happy memories together. Soon, your family situation will feel different, since one member will no longer live with you.
When You Have to Use Vacation Days
You may decide that you want to take a trip with your family if you have some vacation days from work, and you must use them. Ideally, you want a job where you have vacation days that roll over from one year to the next. That doesn’t always happen, though.
You may have a position with a company that gives you only so many days per year. If you don’t use them during that calendar year, they will not carry over.
If that’s the case, then you certainly want to use your days while you have them. You can also use this opportunity to get away from work for a while and to have some downtime. If you push yourself hard at work, then having some time off can recharge your batteries.
When You or One of Your Children Accomplishes Something Noteworthy
You might also choose to take a trip with your family if one of you accomplishes something noteworthy. For example, perhaps you have a child who’s a sports star. Maybe they led their team to the state championship. Maybe they made the varsity squad at their high school instead.
You might have a child who got straight As. Maybe they won a prestigious award for a science project or an essay.
You or your spouse might also accomplish something that you feel deserves recognition. Maybe you got a promotion at work. Perhaps you just got an advanced college degree.
No matter the family member’s accomplishment, if you can all take a trip and celebrate together, they should appreciate that. When someone does something and their family expresses pride in that, it should make them feel good.
You can take a family trip at other times as well, but you always want to do it at a moment when it makes the most sense for everybody. You’ll all probably busy, but finding a few days to spend with each other so you can reconnect will keep the family unit close.
