Families and Fun

I used to think family vacations seemed really boring. Who’d want to go to an amusement park or a crowded beach when you could take your kiddies to Europe and show them capital cities with ruins, relics, and natural wonders of irreplaceable value to modern day world religions, art, history, and modern day politics? Well, a recent conversation clarified the answer to this question for me.

Last week, I was on the phone with a close friend from college. She has been married for several years, and she and her husband have two children. The children are ages three and two. Each time I speak on the phone to her, it sounds like complete chaos in the background. During this particular conversation, over the course of 10 minutes, her two-year-old broke a picture frame, ripped a page out of my friend’s favorite recipe book, and managed to shove a large part of the page into his left nostril. The conversation ended in panic, my friend feeling they may have to go to the emergency room to remove the recipe from the child’s nostril.

After we hung up, it finally dawned on me…This family needs a vacation—but the vacation needs to be a break. It needs to keep those kids having fun and occupied to avoid broken things, ripped up books, and objects in ears and nostrils! Yes, it’s all clear. This year, my friend is thrilled about their upcoming Orlando vacation. The kids will be way too busy with Mickey, Minnie, merry-go-rounds, and miniature golf. They will get to go to restaurants where everyone has children! My friend is especially excited that she (and her three-year-old) will get to pet a live dolphin and maybe even see live starfish. It sounds really fun. My friend and her family deserve it!