So if you read my last post maybe you’ve been encouraged to plan a trip, your anniversary is probably coming up, right? Once your trip is planned there is the other part of planning you need to need to plan for. (Let’s see how many times I can use the word “plan,” okay?)
This part could make or break the entire experience, so take heed. If you’re in a tropical paradise and you hear things aren’t going well you’ll feel SO guilty you’re not there to do your mom thing. So, here are 9 tips to ensure that your children and babysitters have a great time without you:
-
- Talk About the Trip: Communication is key. We talked to our kids about how it is okay to feel sad and miss us sometimes and that we will feel sad and miss them too. These feelings are normal, good, and should be expected. We talked about all the great memories they will make with grandma and grandpa and that their relationships with their grandparents are so special that they get to have a vacation with them while mom and dad are gone. We talk about how when they get married someday we will encourage them to have special time away with their spouse too. All of these little talks we had leading up to our trip made our “goodbyes” and the time apart not seem so bad. I definitely still cried though.
- Make a Schedule and Print It: I created a detailed schedule on Excel for all the days of our time away. I used time blocks for each activity and wrote everything down in a visible and color-coded spreadsheet. Details like addresses of where they need to go, when they need to leave in order to be on time, names and phone numbers of neighbors and friends in the area, etc… were all easy to find and see and helped keep their time moving smoothly.
- Plan Plenty of Activities: Plan a few activities that are fun and doable but don’t go overboard. Grandparents may want a little freedom to decide what to do with the kids as well. We planned a couple of play dates for the older kids (this gave the grandparents a nice little break and was super exciting for the kids!). Then there were a couple of already paid for activities: Air Insanity and gymnastics lessons. This was greatly appreciated. There was also a library trip scheduled and a weekly church activity.
- Prepare a Meal Plan: If you are a DIY queen you’ll have a bunch of freezer meals ready to go for everyone while you’re away. Here’s how I did it; I made 1 freezer meal, left a gift card to Subway, and did a fun grocery haul with some essentials for easy meals (things like pizza, frozen lasagna, lots of frozen veggies, burger patties, taco fixings, and lots of bread, fruit, and snacks). We also left extra cash behind in case they ran out of something or wanted to do something different. I also stashed some fancy chocolates for my parents to snack on and had some of their favorite things on hand too.
- Leave the House Clean and Organized: This is important because it increases your chances that you will come home to a relatively clean house, hah. I wanted to make sure I had enough laundry done so the kids could get through the week without having to do the wash. Winter gear was easily accessible. Grandparents will appreciate beginning the week with a clean kitchen and clean bathrooms too.
- Make Daily Gift Bags: To empathize with the challenge of being apart and to make the time more fun for them, I made each kid a gift bag to open every day. This is one of my favorite tips and has worked amazingly well. I used brown lunch bags and pre-wrote a daily note for the kids to read each day that we were away. I’d tell them what we were doing that day, that I missed them and loved them, and would remind them how many days were left until we came home. Then I went to the dollar store and picked out little prizes or treats to put in each bag to make it exciting (like stickers, toys, activities, treats, snacks, things they don’t normally see on a regular basis). My kids LOVED this and looked forward to their surprise bag every day.
- Incentivize Good Behavior: We created a sticker chart for the kids to keep track of their responsibilities (like keeping their rooms tidy). Then they got a special prize from us when we got home (a souvenir from our trip). We also gave some ideas of appropriate consequences for each child if they needed correction on something. Having expectations set helps the grandparents have an easier time stepping into that authority role and the kids are more responsive and understanding of the change too.
- Have children’s melatonin: Seems like a silly tip. But I know how bedtime can be a challenge for anyone who’s not the mom or dad. Heck, bedtime can be a challenge for us too! So, I told my parents the kids could get the proper dosage of melatonin before bed if they felt like they needed it. Everyone benefits from a good night sleep!
- Maintain Communication: If you’re cruising or out of the country try to have the option to call or communicate electronically somehow. This helped ease anxiety for me as a mom knowing that if they needed to call us they could and then we could call to say goodnight too.
Then, when the trip is over and you return home you will say that your kids look bigger and more grown up and you’ll have so much fun sharing stories and pictures! I want to hear your tips too! How else have you made your time away from your kids go smoothly?
