How to keep the kids happy on holiday seems to be a never-ending conundrum and is often the biggest factor when deciding where to go next as a family. Using her own experience growing up and now as a ‘grown-up’ child who still loves going away with her parents, guest writer Anna Mitchell talks about tricks to help keep young ones happy on holiday.
Keeping my sister and I occupied during every holiday is still of great importance to my parents and a factor when it comes to deciding on the location of our next. As soon as one holiday ends, we will all discuss ideas and preferences for where we’d all like to go for our next one. As my sister and I have grown up over the years, we’ve found there’s now little difference in our preferences to that of our parents in what type of holidays we want, where we’d like to go and what activities we want to do, making it increasingly easier to plan a holiday.
However, when I was younger, one of the aspects of primary importance were the activities on offer for youngsters. We often found ourselves on relaxing beach holidays, which meant water sports were key in keeping me occupied and stimulated. Learning to water-ski from a young age is something I most definitely took for granted but now, looking back, it was amazing to do. This is why all-inclusive holidays, which include these water sports packages, are perfect for a family holiday. You can let your children take part in as many water sports as they like, learning some new skills as they go along, while you just sit back and relax!
On recent holidays I have begun learning to scuba dive on a PADI training course. This has opened up a whole new world of experiences and something I can take part in on most family holidays, helping to further my experience and potentially blossom into completing certified dives.
One of the most obvious aspects of keeping children happy are child-friendly menus. Tropical destinations often present you with a range of adventurous foods – a dream for an adult but not appealing to youngsters! Resorts which supply regular buffets are also perfect for children, giving them the ability to pick and choose what they like, along with the opportunity to try new flavours if they wish to.
Finally, the weather is an important factor in keeping everyone in the family happy, not just children. Glorious sunshine all day, every day, is exactly what the doctor ordered!
