Top tips from American School staff
Print Edition
After the Winter Holiday break, Shanghai American School staff members shared a few tips you might want to adopt with your family on your next holiday.
1. Historical excursion
Both of our children love history. So, all our family vacations center around the history we can learn from a location. This past holiday before heading to Rome, we talked about the Roman Empire and the effect that kind of world dominance had on their attitudes, the way others viewed them, and how later societies followed the Roman example. Then moving on to Florence we were able to talk about the Renaissance. Once on vacation, we look for evidence of the things we discussed at home. It almost becomes a treasure hunt and the whole family enjoys the challenges. It’s one thing to tell your kids something, but when they are able to see the reality of it, it makes any demanding parts of the holiday worth it.
2. Giving back to the community
Making the most of our family holiday for us means taking a day to give back to the local community by either donating gently used clothes, volunteering at an animal rescue center or simply walking the beach with a bag for trash. Researching beforehand, we determine the charity we want to focus on and prepare if needed. Examples of past preparations involved gathering donated preschool supplies from my daughter’s preschool families for a Jamaican school for orphans, to booking an afternoon with Lanta Animal Welfare on the island of Koh Lanta, Thailand. Giving back to the community where we holiday is always one of the highlights of our vacation.
3. Stay away from screens
One thing our family strives to do on vacation is to spend less time on our screens. It isn’t always easy, it doesn’t always happen, but it is something we discuss and aim for.
Nothing jolts you with a shock of guilt like failing to notice the sunset your daughter is pointing at because you are posting a photo of your coffee on Instagram! We spend too much time already on our devices during our workday, the least we can do is put them away when on vacation and take time to smell the roses… There will be time to post them later!
4. Plan an excursion with another family
When planning a family vacation with two young children three things are important to us: a beach, a pool and the opportunity for a half-day excursion. These three things keep everyone in the whole family happy. We have also learned over time that it can be fun to travel with another family. This provides for opportunities to mix and match the daily events and affords a little variety to the holiday. The fathers can go fishing, biking or golfing for a morning and the mothers can play tennis, shop or go for a quiet lunch in the afternoon. Meanwhile back at the pool the kids are safe and supervised.
(Tara Neff, Ginette Thierry, Kimbra Power and Glynis Hill are SAS staff.)
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