The kids can’t wait for the holidays, but school breaks can mean more work for some parents. Do you really know how to best manage your kids when you’re out at the theme park, on a camping trip or on holiday? Here are a few pocket-money related tips, to help you out.
🏛️ Managing the gift shop
Never mind the roller coasters or the ghost trains, often scariest part of a trip to an amusement park is when you exit through the gift shop. This can also be true when you take a family outing to a wide range of zoos, aquariums and museums.
Nevertheless, the gift shop doesn’t have to be the place to argue over the merits of a novelty key ring or commemorative fridge magnet. Some of the problem lies in leaving decision making to the last minute, and letting impulse purchases creep in.
Before you arrive, you might want to talk to your children about wants and needs; you could even talk it over on the car ride there. Then perhaps you can decide with your kids whether or not you’re going to buy a memento, who will pay for it, and choose a budget. If you’re going to a few of these places over half term, maybe set an overall gift shop budget, and remember you really don’t have to buy anything at all; the trip itself is a treat.
⛱️ Dealing with holiday money
It can be hard enough for adults to manage money on holiday, so it’s likely your son or daughter could use a little help. Holiday expenses can take up quite a bit of the family spending, and, once you’re away, it’s hard sometimes to not think about overspending. This might be a false economy. Having already paid for travel and accommodation, there’s little point in adding a few dark clouds to an otherwise sunny afternoon, by denying the kids a few ice creams, an extra dessert, a boat ride or a silly necklace. Again, decide on a budget, and if you’re overseas, maybe even let them work out the exchange rate. They might be surprised how prices vary from country to country.
🏕️Camping
A few nights in a tent with children can be fun during the warmer months. It’s often a price-friendly way to take a holiday, with a night’s pitch costing far less than other types of accommodation. The only problem is, camping requires quite a bit of discipline. Tents can get pretty messy, and bedtime routines can go haywire, if you don’t set some rules in place pretty quickly. Give kids praise for taking their shoes off before getting into the tent, for going to the wash block to brush their teeth, and turning off the torches before they go to sleep. You can beat back the chaos, and they can earn those holiday rewards.
🎒Camps and holidays without parents
School holidays are also a time when children enjoy trips away from home with friends, at summer camps, via cubs, brownies, guides and scout groups, or with sports teams. It can be difficult to enforce family rules, when they’re away from home. You’re probably going to have to face up to your son or daughter eating a few more chocolate bars, staying up a bit later, not changing their clothes are regularly as you’d like, and maybe not brushing their teeth every morning and evening. After all, that’s all part of the fun of being away from home.