The Secret To Keeping Kids Interested on Family Vacations
Vacations and trips are great family events, but how do you keep kids interested and busy during the down times? Have them keep journals of the trips and their impressions.
Writing Journals
Take a minute to give some consideration to your most recent family vacation. Where there periods of time when you wished you kids would pay more attention to what was going on? Its natural for kids attention to wonder. In these days of the Internet and video games, the average child seems to have an attention span of about 30 seconds.
For many kids, the only way to truly get their attention on a family trip is to get them involved. The best method for doing this is to give them a journal and ask them to make daily entries. Keeping a journal will encourage kids to pay attention to the things around them. It also gives them something to during long rides in cars, on planes and so on as well as promotes good writing habits.
There are famous instances of people keeping journals throughout time. Of course, Anne Frank's Diary is the best example. In her diary, Anne kept a running commentary of the two years her family spent hiding from the Nazis. While your family vacations will hopefully be more lighthearted, keeping a journal will let you and your children reflect on past family vacations, particularly as the years pass. Nothing beats reading old journals at a family gathering and reliving the memories.
A good journal for kids will combine a number of characteristics. First, it should be compact. Second, it should have a case to protect it from rain, spills and just because kids will be kids. Third, the journal should contain blank areas for notes, doodles and so on. Finally, the journal should contain cue spaces to remind children to pay attention to certain things and write them down. Cues should include:
1. Who went on the trip,
2. Places visited and why they are important,
3. The most memorable experience each day,
4. New friends made and contact information for them,
5. Events occurring on each day, and
6. Impressions of things seen.
As time passes, the family vacations journals will remind your kids of past trips. Memories fade with time, even for kids. By keeping a journal, kids will open their eyes to things around them, enhancing your family vacation.
Rick Chapo is with Nomad Journals - http://www.nomadjournals.com - makers of travel and outdoor activity journals. Visit NomadJournalTrips.com - http://www.nomadjournaltrips.com - to read more articles and journal entries.
Related Articles:
The Old Monied Dupont Nemours and Roosevelt Families Buy a Tax Haven
This 4,000 acre sale (now a marina and resort town - with an airport for jumbo jets (the $50,000,000 airport was donated by the UK government) went down in the 1970's - not the 1870's!?!?Source: A Turks & Caicos Government 3 full page advertisement in Investor's Daily (1985).Was this the most profitable real estate investment of the 20th century? A quarter acre lot in the gated community of Sandyport here in Nassau, Bahamas sells for approximately $260,000 today.
New Survey Reveals Top 5 Most Wanted Gifts; African Ancestry, Inc., Pays Ancestral Homage to African-American Family Matriarchs; Unveils first African
New survey reveals top 5 most wanted gifts for African American moms; African Ancestry, Inc., pays ancestral homage to family matriarchs; Unveils first African ancestry tracing infomercial.
New York Law Firm Announces Partnership Serving Personal Injury, Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse, Family, Matrimonial, Divorce and Immigration
New York Law Firm (www.schrefflerschwarz.com) announces partnership serving personal injury, nursing home neglect and abuse, family, matrimonial, divorce and immigration. The founding partners of Schreffler Schwarz have, for a combined period of over 40 years, successfully represented real people, with real problems. Today they announce the formation of a new attorney partnership in Downtown NYC Manhattan.
Life Insurance For Over 50's | Take Care of Your Family?s Needs and Invest in the Life Insurance Policy
Mortgage insurance is level term life insurance that protects the home In case of death, life insurance can be used to pay off the mortgage on your house so that your loved ones will own their home free and clear and can continue to live in familiar surroundings
Family Life Insurance
Life insurance -- it's a matter of life and death.
Rasmussen College to Offer a Tuition Discount to Military Service Members and Their Families
Rasmussen College is proud to announce that it is will be offering a ten percent tuition discount to all United States Military Servicemembers and their families. The discount is available through any of Rasmussen's 6 campuses in Minnesota and Illinois, or online through Rasmussen College Online. The discount is available to both active and inactive military personnel and their spouses and children.
Ease Your Family Concerns About Senior Car Insurance
No one looks forward to the day they need to tell a parent, or both parents, that it is probably time to stop driving. Even if their driving skills have become dull and dangerous, no one wants to tell an older person they should no longer drive, or that their driving abilities have reached a point that they are possibly putting themselves, and others, at risk when driving. No one wants to have to take that freedom away from them.
Myrtle Beach's Family Kingdom Amusement Park To Open March 21, 2008
Family Kingdom Delivers Family-Friendly Fun And Great Value
Hilarious New Novel Chronicles One Quirky Family in Small Town America
Littleville by Jim Bob Sally is the wildly comic novel about three generations of a small town family whose exploits made them known worldwide.
Putney Pasta Introduces Five New "Lotsa Pasta" Family Packs and Three New Flavors
All-natural, premium frozen pasta showcases "Wildly Creative Cooking".
HugaMonkey to Give Free Baby Slings to Military Families
HugaMonkey baby slings pays tribute to military families with a free baby sling giveaway.
Oh, Pioneers! New Novel Follows Families' Journey of Courage to 1830s American Frontier
A new book from author Richard Puz, "The Ohioans," brilliantly captures the essence of America's pioneer experience in the 1830s.
Family Album In The Digital Age
Back then it was simple - you take the picture, you print it and put it in your family album. But now you have a digital camera.
7 Ways Busy Families Can Volunteer
Volunteering together is a fantastic way to spend time as a family. Volunteering--teaches kindness, compassion and respect.
The Big No-no: Network Marketing To Friends And Family
"People who know you well do not good business prospects make. Period." -- the Pajama Mamas