5 Family Activities to Prepare for a Vacation

Vacations are meant to be fun and relaxing. But the preparations are enough to make anyone anxious. Throw in children and one could find themselves needing a vacation from their vacation prep. Follow these five simple steps and you'll have a much easier time.

Check the Alarm

Call your alarm company's dispatch center and let them know when you'll be away. The last thing you want to deal with while on vacation is false home alarms and troubleshooting your issues with an ADT security system . False home alarm triggers are extremely common and can result in hefty fees. Check all your sensors to make sure they’re functional and order replacements if necessary, and be sure to check your the alarm setting as well.

Verify Bookings

Depending on how on top of things you are, you’ve probably already booked the hotel and perhaps even some activities. But just because you’ve found the perfect hotel and everything looks great doesn’t mean you’ll get what you expect. You might check in and realize you’re in a room with 2 full beds rather than the 2 queens you thought you were getting, or maybe you thought you’d get a suite and you didn’t. Make sure someone—either a parent or an older teenage child—calls ahead to verify that the amenities listed are available and that the room type they’ve marked you for is correct. This will save you a lot of grief .

Packing

While it would definitely be easier for you to pack for your kids yourself, if you get your children involved and teach them what to bring, how much, and how to pack it in the bag, in a few trips, you won’t have to watch them at all. They’ll be able to do it all by themselves. By getting everyone to take care of the packing at the same time, you can make sure that everyone is ready to go. Then you won’t have to wait for that straggler who delays everyone by 30 minutes because they weren’t quite ready when you told them to be.

One thing you’ll want to be careful about, however, is making sure your younger children don’t take anything too valuable with them. This includes things of high sentimental value. Vacations have a habit of losing things, and if your child loses their favorite stuffed animal or blanket, the screams will never end. If they must take a comfort item with them, restrict it to only one, and make sure they know they’re responsible for keeping track of it.

Involve the Kids

Kids love giving their input and feel like they’re contributing to a ‘grownup’ activity. Give each child a small task to do. This doesn’t have to be anything difficult. One child could choose the movies to bring so you have something to watch while in transit or at the location. Another child could choose some small travel games to play while at the hotel. Make sure the tasks you give are age-appropriate, but by giving your child this kind of responsibility, they’ll feel more a part of the process.

Choose Activities Everyone Can Do

This is a family vacation. You want to plan activities everyone can participate in and enjoy . Perhaps a couple member of the family will enjoy something more than others, but make sure you find something the others can enjoy as well. Do your homework beforehand and find out what’s available—from amusement parks to seasonal events to museums and more—and then let your children know the options. They can then pick which ones interest them the most and you can narrow down the list until you have a doable list that interests everyone.

While following these steps may not prevent every worst case scenario, it will certainly reduce your stress over the long run. After all, this is a vacation; it’s supposed to be fun!