Grandparents are great, aren't they? They dote on your kids, always show up with fun stuff to play with, and babysit allowing you to have a night out. Sometimes they even want to take your kids on a vacation, which could allow you to have a vacation of your own.
While some granddads and grannies are more adventurous, some may not want to journey too far from home-base with the kids, so I put together ideas big and small, yet would still create lasting memories.
Check out the list of great trips the grandparents can take with your kids ... and see if it gives you any ideas.
Museum trips -- Choose a city that has a few fantastic museums that the kids will enjoy and you can make a weekend out of it. Washington, D.C. is one place that comes to mind because of the aviation museum as well as Natural History and a new children's museum. But even if that's too far for your travels, check out what's near to you or within your travel comfort to find something that works for the kids' interests.
Smaller amusement parks -- The huge ones can be overwhelming for any parent, and that may be double for the grandparents. But a smaller theme park could be perfect. There are many that revolve around things kids really love like chocolate, candy, even their favorite cartoon character.
An all-inclusive resort -- One word: Confined! Which could be just the ticket for relaxed fun, chock-full of activities already built in, and no worries about schlepping everyone and everything around.
Cruise -- This may be for the more daring grandparents, but a cruise is just like an all-inclusive but on water, of course. Throw in the added excitement of docking at a city for a day and you have a real adventure.
Ancestry tour -- Kids love the stories grandparents tell about when they were a child and all about their ancestors and even if they don’t act like they love it when they are young, when they grow up they sure hold on to those memories. So why not take the storytelling one step further and go to the town or city that has meaning in the family. The grandparents could reenact the fishing trips or whatever it is that they did when they were young, and truly make those memories live on in a whole new way. Or they could go to a genealogist and everyone may learn something new.
What other grandparent trips do you think would be perfect? Have you ever tried any of the ones suggested?
Image via paalia/Flickr
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Comments 12
My son has never gone anywhere with his grandparents.
Maybe some do, idk, but this is my opinion:
A museum is a half day outing, and they certainly wouldn't be happy to be in one after being in a car/plane all day to get there. No CHILD is interrested enough in ancestry to listen to more than a story or two, and certainly not to re-enact the "old days".
Why not list a beach trip? There's the water, tide pools, shops, resturaunts, piers, some small year-round carnivals.
Or camping. Maybe some grandparents couldn't hike too much, but some could. And there's lots of animals, waterfalls/streams, add in that fishing you mentioned, some might even want to hunt.
I can't imagine a young kid wanting to go on what is supposed to be a vacation, just to look at old crap, and listen to old stories.
The zoo. My dd's grandparents have taken her to different zoos several times.
My daughter hasn't gone on any trips without us, but we have gone on vacations with grandparents. We went on a camping/ white water rafting trip a couple years ago with my FIL (and some of the cousins) but she stayed on dry land as she was not even 3 yet and there were some big rapids on that river. Just this last week, we went to the coast with MY grandma and that was a lot of fun. Grandma spent some of the time at the house we were renting while the 3 of us went out to do our thing. She's getting older and has a hard time getting around but she didn't want us to feel like we had to wait on her. I would totally do it again.
Many of the listed trips are things we did as kids with my parents. They were fun! The ancestry tour may be better for the slightly older kids. I don't know of a first grader who cares very much to hear about Grandpa's stories.
Great tips overall!
Road trips are usually the way we go with our parents and children. We plan it out and then make interesting stops along the way.
My son used to love to go fishing with his grandpa!
I remember going on picnics with my grandparents and to amusement parks and fairs.
Picnics and we would go for walks.