When do you stop bringing your kids on vacation?

[westjones]

In two years my twins will graduate high school. I am thinking that will be our last year to bring them on vacation with us. Honestly, my husband and I (who had our children late in life) are looking forward to being able to travel just the two of us again.

So I am wondering. Do families with college age kids still include them in vacations as a rule (I realize you can always include everyone anytime, we have even had adult trips with my in laws, but that was a special trip, not a constant regular expectation).

I know both my husband and I stop traveling with our families once we entered college, is that common now days too? Or are they usually included like you would a high school student?

Just wondering what the trends are now days.

 

[daughter_of_amid_chaos]

I am 25 and going on a family vacation next year.

 

[sunlver]

I have no idea the answer to that. I couldnt imagine traveling without my kids.
We only go on one vacation a year, so where we go they go. My oldest will be 16 this month, and youngest is 6..I enjoy taking them on vacation, I love seeing things through their eyes..

 

[georgina]

I have no idea what the trends are...when I was a kid, my family never went anywhere, so I did not travel with them. My college age D and my H share a scuba diving interest, so they have gone together on trips. If she is home during the summer, she goes with us when we travel. (We included her in a trip to Europe for a wedding this summer.) When she is living at school, she does not. I imagine if we went somewhere over Christmas break, she would come. It would be odd going away when she was home on break! If we travel in Sept or October, it would not be with kids who are in college (or older).

 

[sjs314]

DH and I were planning on going to WDW alone this year (first vacation ever, other than honeymoon) without kids, anyway DS(40) started hinting so instead of a standard room we booked a 1 bdrm and DS and wife are now coming along , They are never too old to come on vacation

 

[debster812]

Well, I'm 44, and my parents treated us to a whole family vacation in WDW in January of 2009. We also invade them in Florida every February and have done so for the past 6 years. So I guess we still go on family vacations.

 

[Myothername]

We do both. My family, brothers, DSILs, nieces and nephews, rent a beach house every year and have since DS, 20, was 4. He always goes on that trip. But for the past couple of years he won't go with me and DH on a trip. He gets bored. I don't blame him really. He stays home and takes care of the house and animals which is great for us.

 

[Kitty 34]

I just took my 30 year old DS to Vegas......but then I was with my Mom so if she was to answer she'd say she was in Vegas with her 56, 51 and 44 year old children!!!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

No trends, just do whatever you are comfortable with.

 

[minkydog]

DS24 and DD17 are both at the age where they really don't much want to go on every vacation. DS started staying home from camping trips around age 16 and I think DD was about 15. DH & I rarely get the chance to get away without the kids so most of our trips we have at least 2 kids with us. When DS turned 21 we took our last Big family vacation. I took everyone to WDW and we stayed at the Poly for about 5 days. We had a wonderful time, but it also showed us that the kids were growing up and apart from us.We still invite them both on most of our getaways. DS has been on a short vacation with DH to visit his Grandmother in July. In June, we took DD17 with us to Florida and left Christian with caregivers. We had a great time and it made me realise how fast the time it going by. She graduates this spring and i hope we can get at least one more Big family vacation in before she stops going with us altogether.

 

[Princess Nancy]

Count me in as still going on vaca with my parents...

My parents love to travel and do so often, sometimes just the 2 of them sometimes a lucky grandchild gets invited. Right now my 14 year old DD is in NYC with them! Papa and my son just played the Alabama golf trail and the girls and I went to Hilton Head with Grandma...

Oh and I am 45!!! LOL!!!

Every 2 years we go on an all famaily vaca! Papa pays for accomadations and we have to get there! several years ago they stopped giving Bday and Christmas gifts and went to a family Vacation Fund! We all LOVE it!

Yup, we are spoiled!

 

[dimimi]

Our kids are 12 and 16. We plan on hosting a vacation for as long as they will come. We hope they will bring their families some day.

 

[mumom95]

My kids are still young, but I hope even when they become adults we can still do a yearly vacation together (expenses paid by us).

That doesn't mean my dh and I won't travel alone also.

 

[Cooky]

.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I guess I don't see how traveling, just the two of you, and 'family vacations' have to be mutually exclusive.

It all depends on each individual trip planned, and the people involved.

Some plans lend themselves to extended family...
And, some do not.

My DH's parents thought we should travel with them....
Didn't take long before we decided, never again!

 

[Wishing on a star]

You can go on vacation with your adult children or not go on vacation with your adult children. You can do whatever you want to. I don't know of any "trends" in how old family members must be to go on vacation together. Must say though in our family, there was never an age cutoff. Sometimes mom and dad go on vacation alone, sometimes the adult children go on vacation alone, sometimes they all go together.

Yes, this exactly!

Some parents begin to take short trips (getaways) while their children are still quite young....

It sounds a bit odd, to me, for a parent to have to question if they can ever travel without their children.

 

[Scurvy]

I also don't see why it has to be one or the other. My husband, son and I go on vacations together often, we go with my parents and sister sometimes, and sometimes my husband and I go alone. Different types of vacations work better with different combinations of people, and we enjoy them all. I don't see that changing, regardless of the ages of the people involved. In the end, though, it doesn't really matter what anyone else does. If you want to travel with your kids then you should. If you want to travel without them, then you should do that.

 

[daisyduck123]

We certainly expect to bring our kids with us on vacation...at least while they are in college. DD will be just 16 when she graduates next May...she most certainly will be coming to WDW with us next summer and I'm sure for a few summers after that. I have no plans on leaving her home alone.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

My oldest daughter is leaving for college next week and we are trying to plan our next Disney trip. I wouldn't dream of going without her as long as she still wants to come. What makes it hard now as my two other children have the same holidays off from school and she is on a totally different schedule. Looks like it will have to be summers only for a few years but not going with one of my kids just wouldn't feel right to me.

 

[MushyMushy]

It depends on the individual child as much as it does each family. My son stopped vacationing with us around the age of 15, but I think my daughter will probably go with us for a very long time to come (she'll be 15 in a month). My son has always hated traveling, so we just stopped forcing him to come. DD loves going places.

DH and I have had a good mix of traveling with and without kids.