Trifter

It’s always painful to hear your teen go “Oh, I hate you!” or maybe just “It’s SO boring!” on a family holiday which then ends up ruining the family atmosphere. Here are a few ways (written by a teen) how you can gently combat that problem.

• Go to places that cater for everyone’s needs in your family. It doesn’t have to be all amusement parks but go somewhere that your teens like, somewhere younger children might like to go and somewhere you would like to go. Make sure you let your teen know that you are catering to their needs to so if they have an issue with where you are going, they can tackle it.

• Have activities appealing to their age. It’s always nice to know that your teen is doing something he or she likes to do, so ask them what they would like to do, irrespective of whether they’d like to do it alone or along with the family. Make sure you get their stamp of approval before sorting out activities for them.
• Give them a choice for everything. This makes them spend sometime considering it. Give your teen the pros and cons of each choice and let them make their mind up on their own. If it is a choice between France or Germany, ask them where they’d prefer to go by saying the positives and negatives about each. Be open here because if something is expensive, then let them know. Honesty is the best policy with teens and by giving them a choice, they actually feel involved in the decision which means a lot to them.
• Involve them in planning and give them tasks. Teenagers love responsibility and there’s no better way to carry this out by asking them to plan or research your holiday destination. This way, they cut out most of the hard work for you because they can make decisions where they’d like to go and what they’d like to do. But if there is something in the plan that isn’t feasible, be honest and let your teen know.

• Teenagers like independence so set their boundaries before hand. Before you go on holiday or even just plan, give your teens an idea of the limitations you are going to set. Let the teens do what they like on your holiday destination. If they want to go bungee jumping on their own, give their space and let them try it out. Don’t stick to them like glue because they appreciate their space. But set boundaries too. If the teens want to go clubbing, make sure that you have the right safety measures and tell them beforehand what can happen if something goes wrong and send a trusted adult with them.
• Give them their own little area by letting them have a hotel room or if you can’t really afford it, then have them share it with a sibling they get on well with. This way, the idea of responsibility creeps in and they don’t have to be under your watch 24/7 and can have their little place to spend some free time.
• Keep the conversation flowing through independence. Always make sure that you have something to talk to them about. If you stick to them all the time, they can never tell you about their adventures, because you went through those adventures yourself too. Let them do a different activity and you do a different activity so at lunch or dinner, you can keep the conversation flowing by getting to know how each other spent their time.

•  This tip is only if you can afford it – but take a friend along. This tip is suggested by a few travel guides but I don’t really like the idea of having a friend along. It is good because then it doesn’t become a pure family holiday but then again, you don’t want the teen to concentrate on spending time only with a friend and not the family. Also, health and safety measures are an issue when it comes to having a friend even if you have permission from their parents.

These tips should get you through a relatively less trouble free holiday but make sure that your teen is enjoying at all times and has something to do.