Very few things are fun for the entire family. This is particularly true if you have a large age gap between your kids. Sarah’s are currently 7-13, and mine are 5-18 so…family fun is a challenge.
But there are still a few activities that might work for families, even those with large age spreads. In today’s episode of Best of Both Worlds, Sarah and I share ideas, including movies, restaurants, day trips, vacations, and more that might work for people of all ages.
Then in the Q&A we answer a family travel related question: Any best practices for moving kids across multiple time zones? I have to say, I’m kind of still traumatized from the aftermath of bringing my 5-year-old back from Hawaii two months ago…
Please give the episode a listen, and as always we welcome ratings and reviews!
Love this topic — great ep! I would add camping to the outdoors activities. I never wanted to camp, and my 6&9yo talked me into it. Now, I love it. It is a great way for everyone to be away from the city, mostly disconnected, outdoors, and we’ve figured out how to sleep well on the overnights too.
@Amanda – yes! This could certainly be a fun family activity – kind of in the same category as “broad outdoors” – people can make their own fun in a beautiful rustic spot.
Wanted to weigh in on the ‘crossing time zones with kids’ question. I have two (14 and 9) who are dual citizens of two countries that are about as far away from each other as it is possible to get. We travel from one to the other to see family every two years or so, and have done this with babies, toddlers, little kids, and now big kids. My teen has done this trek 8 times now.
It becomes much, much easier when you are only dealing with establishing ONE sleep time (i.e. overnight) and naps are no longer in the picture. Our best advice for when you come home (which for us is moving east) is to set the day’s schedule based on the time the kids wake up in the morning – we let our kids sleep until as late as noon that first day, and when they wake up, that becomes morning. So for a kid who is sleeping 11-12 hours a day, at the end of that first day back, we’re putting them to bed around midnight or 1 am. The next day, we wake them up 60-90 minutes earlier, and readjust. The day after that, another 90-120 minutes earlier. This usually gets them back on track within three or four days, and, critically, does not encourage them to wake up for the day at 2 am, which is what used to happen when we tried to establish bedtime first.
Daylight/natural light helps. Trying to get on the time where you’re going as soon as possible helps (eating at regular times, etc.). The kids getting old enough that even if they wake up at 5 am they don’t immediately wake you up as well – BIG help.
Ultimately, it’s painful, and it’s more painful the younger your kids are and the more sleep times you have to try to reset. But it does get better! (And we are pro unlimited screen time on a plane – whatever gets you through.)
@Angela – interesting idea! We often wind up back close to right before school/work so it’s been less of an option to do the change slowly. But it’s no fun however we do it… And yes, here’s to kids being old enough that they can entertain themselves for an hour or two!