Responsible Father

Choose the less expensive vacation.

Or said more expandedly: If you and your kids can experience the same amount of Joy on a vacation that costs less, by all means do it.

One benefit here is that you will be less tempted to experience regret when things don’t go perfectly.

And the good news is, kids often don’t need much to experience a great deal of wonder or have a lot of fun, especially if you haven’t set them up to need it. This can be a happy truth if you are very low on funds.

When it comes to extravagant trips, don’t start them young.

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here

It’s the Journey AND the destination.

Enjoy both of them. Let God have them both.

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here

Don’t let the lowest moment of a trip dominate your memory of it.

. . . or your feelings about the trip while you’re in it.

Here is an idea you have to get used as you go on vacation: It is quite likely that bad things will happen on the trip. Not until Heaven are we guaranteed otherwise.

So someone may get injured, or a great attraction will be closed, or you might have car trouble or the weather will be horrid, or a fight might break out. And for a moment you might think “The trip will be ruined.”

But while I say that moments like this will likely happened, I think it is also very likely that the trip won’t actually be ruined. You’ll look back and say “That wasn’t as big a deal as I feared it was going to be.”

This is the way it should be. Don’t allow it to be other wise. Don’t think, “Never again – it’s not worth it if things like that might happen.”

No, instead remember the good point. The moment that were you surprised by the joy you experienced.  Focus on that.

And then thank and glorify God for it. It is all grace. Every good moment we get is Grace.

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here

Bring them to God.*

The Chief End of your vacation is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Try not to forget it or let your kids forget it. Every time you pray, pray that God will be glorified on your trip. Look for signs of God on your vacation. Talk about how nature points us to the splendor of heaven and being in God’s presence.

Every stop on your vacation has potential for instant object lesson material. Use it.

* Or rather, let God use you to bring your kids to Himself.

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here

Don’t expect perfect behavior.

As you head into a vacation you might be tempted to think, “This trip is going to be so fun, surely my child will show his/her appreciation by being a more obedient/happy/non-complaining/unselfish offspring”, or “They’ll be enjoying it so much they won’t have time to fight with each other!”

I recommend avoiding thoughts like this, because they are setting you up for feelings of failure. And when you don’t get this good behavior, you’ll think, “Why am I paying all this money then?”

No, your kids are still your kids. Do your sins go away when you’re on vacation?

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here

Let them vote!

It is often the case that you already know* or don’t care** what your kids think you should do on a given day of your vacation. But sometimes you don’t know and you do care.

Perhaps you are trying to choose one of two options for the afternoon.  Or you are trying to decide to go out for an adventure of some kind or just stay at your cabin, hotel or campsite and relax.

So find out. Give them the opportunity to say what they think. Let them have some ownership of your itinerary. And they might surprise you with their answer.

* Hmmm, I wonder if the kids want to go to the swimming park today?

** What, the Star Trek Hall Of Fame is only three miles off our route? We’re so going!

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here

Readers of this blog will remember that it is the JamFam goal to go on one hundred picnics this year, 2010, which happens to be our tenth year of going on picnics. I thought some of you might be interested in how far along we are in this endeavor.

We didn’t plan it to work out like this but . . .

(1) Today is the last day of the first half of the year, and
(2) Today we went on our 50th picnic.

So progress is being made. We’ll see about finishing. An early winter might make it impossible. But we’re shooting for it.

And happily our kids are not getting sick of it, and are, in fact, commonly requesting more.

Picnic #29: State Capital Mall

One more point (not related to the picture): Yesterday we went to a park that I had heard of in Northern Maplewood called Sunset Ridge. It turned out to have a surprising and spectacular view to the south and West. We could see both Twin City downtowns, the State Capital Building and the Cathedral that St. Paul is named after. Beautiful. Plus a park and a swinging bench that seemed to be popular with couples.

We recommend it.