When do you stop bringing your kids on vacation?

[Tinijocaro]

While we love taking our kids on vacation with us, we NEED to have vacations with just the two of us. No, it doesn't mean we love our kids any less than someone who always takes their kids. We just really enjoy it being just the two of us.

 

[Kronk's girl]

My parents took us on nice trips every year, but they also always went on lots of trips alone even when we were very little (we stayed with grandma and grandpa or an aunt and uncle). I would always throw a fit because they were going on trips without us, but now as an adult I totally understand that they wanted some alone time and a chance to have a relaxing break. I think it helped keep my parents' marriage strong.

But we also went on a family trip all together last year (with the "kids" in their 30's) and had a blast...but I certainly don't want to always travel with my parents, I am an adult and my DH and I want our own adventures too

 

[smb6]

I, also don't know that their is a trend; but I think many adults still vacation with their parents through the college years. I think once the child has their own children this becomes more limited because unless the very generous and financially able parents want to extend an offer to pay for not only the child, but their spouse and their children it is less likely to happen..... I plan to take my kids on vacations as long as they continue to want to go, but once they have a family I may have to limit that some due to finances....

 

[hodgieha]

I still travel with my parents. If I not invited I tend to invite myself. ( My mom doesn't mine as she is never surprised I invite myself). Also I know she wouldn't tell me if she did want me to come. Also everyother year my brother and his family come on a family vacation to Disney. This year we are going for thanksgiving. I love to travel so any opportunity that I have to go somewhere I will take advantage of it.

 

[NMAmy]

We'll keep taking dd, 19, as long as she wants to come along. We took her and a friend to WDW for spring break last year. I'm not sure if she wants to do this next year but the advantage is that Mom pays for everything if you go with her--if you go on your own, you pay your own way.

DH and I also take a trip or two a year without her. We're going somewhere alone in October. Every other summer, we got to England to visit DH's family. DD has always had sports commitments in past summers so she's hoping she can come along next year.

 

[Mandychelle79]

We were still in hs when my parents took a vacation without us.

Now we do big family vacations we had 8 of us the last Disney trip.

They always tell us where they are going and we know we are welcome to come along if able.

 

[hopemax]

I am 34 years old, and still vacation with my parents. In their mind, "the more the merrier," they also travel with other couples. And since most of these vacations involve traveling to Disney destinations and my Mom is a CM, it usually ends up cheaper for us because of "friends & family" discounts. Of course, DH and I pay our own way. This does bother DH a little, so we also take our separate vacations, but my parents pretty much arrange it so they are traveling at the same time as someone else, even if they arrange everything separately.

My parents did pay for me to travel with them until I graduated from college. I was responsible for my souvenir money and snack money, but they paid airfare, hotel, most meals.

 

[thinkerbell]

We took ours as long as they would go while they were in college. They eventually get to where they kind of cut themselves off from regular vacations. They will still go with us from time to time on short trips.

 

[Colleen27]

I don't think there is a rule about when kids stop traveling with their parents. I imagine that by the time they're college age, I'll leave it up to them to decide if they want to join us on family trips, but we travel without the kids even now so there will certainly be trips that they aren't invited along for as well.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I still did in college and on occasion we do "family reunion style" vacations.

I see making vacations available to my kids until
the youngest is sick of us. That doesn't mean I
will travel all the time with them. They will probably contribute the cost when they are in a position to do so. But again, that will depend.

I don't see cutting out the older kids when we still do family vacations with the younger kids. But since yours are twins, that isn't something to be concerned about.

So my answer is that I plan to do both!

 

[luvmy3]

When I was a kid we went on big family summer vacations every year. The year I turned 18 was when I was given the choice to go or not. I plan on doing the same for my kids, at some point they should be able to make the choice themsleves but they will always be welcome to come.

 

[We_Love_Disney]

I am going to stop when DD goes on her honeymoon!

I would never advocate leaving high schoolers home while parents are on vacation. Not unless there is someone staying there with them. Too many bad things can and will happen.

 

[bicker]

I went from being taken on vacation by parents to taking parents on vacation.

 

[Pakey]

We still take our adult children and their families on vacation. We don't do it on every vacation but we do something big with them every other year. We can afford to do it and it gives us an opportunity to spend time together that we don't get otherwise. Our sons are 34, 31 and 29.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I definitely will include my child in college, unless he doesn't want to go. We have a big age span between our two children (9 years), so the little one will be going with us for a long time yet. Might as well include our oldest.

I'd say even when he's older and married, we'll probably include him and his wife if we can and if they want to go. By then we'll probably want to do some vacations with just the two of us, though we haven't yet.

 

[Liberty Belle]

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. DS has not asked to go on a vacation since then. THis summer 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.

My son is 17 and lives for vacation! He wouldn't dream of not going. He even goes with his grandparents. Of course, we don't get a lot of vacations, so maybe that's why.

 

[Melmac]

I guess it would depend on what you mean by bring your kids on vacation. If you mean pay for your kids to go on vacation, I was cut off when I graduated university. However, 12 years later, I still go on some vacations with my parents (around once every 2 or 3 years) which also includes some aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.

 

[Kimberly]

Some vacations stopped with my parents as they got older. Neither of my parents still ski anymore, as they now prefer laid back beach vacations to snowy conditions. My father got really hurt back in the late 90s when I was a teen on a ski trip, and I think that has spooked the two of them since. I travel with them to a beach somewhere every now and then, usually every 2-3 years.

I travel more frequently with my siblings now, it seems they enjoy the things I do more.

 

[minkydog]

My son is 17 and lives for vacation! He wouldn't dream of not going. He even goes with his grandparents. Of course, we don't get a lot of vacations, so maybe that's why.

I think my kids are just at an age where they are very attached to their peers. It's not that they don't like us or don't want to be with us, but they don't want to spend a whole week hanging out with the parental units. We don't get many big vacations. Most of ours are visiting grandparents. One grandma is in a nursing home and the other...well, she's a hoarder so it makes it difficult to stay with her. We visit but we keep it brief, both for the grandmas' sakes and the kids'. The grandmas have a limit on how much togetherness they can stand.

Now, if we're going camping up in North Georgia mountains, not only do all the kids want to go, but their friends do to. It's not unusual for us to have our camper full and a tent on the ground, too.

 

[PirateSnowmen]

I'm in college and I still go on vacations with my parents. My mom prefers to sit back & relax the entire vacation. My dad always has to be on the move and doing something. I'm a combination of both - I love doing adventerous activities, but I also love lounging around.

Most of my friends still go on vacations with parents, but I do have a few friends whose parents cut them off once they graduated high school.

I don't think there's really a trend for that sort of thing - it definitely varies by family.