Stop wasting money on trips your kids won’t remember or appreciate

Before a family trip, I threw a “day camp” for my nephews (ages 2 and 5). We made crafts, tried regional foods, watched kid-friendly videos, and colored pictures of landmarks while talking about what makes them special.

When we actually traveled, they got it. They got excited spotting things they’d learned about and understood why what they were seeing was cool.

Here’s the thing: kids go to incredible places and have no idea why they’re special. Adults choose Italy because we know about the history, art, food, architecture. Kids just get told “we’re going somewhere” and dragged around looking at old buildings.

MY APPROACH: Give kids the same context we have. Before any trip, do hands-on prep: • Make crafts related to the destination • Try regional foods and talk about why they’re special there • Watch kid-friendly videos about the culture/history • Color pictures of landmarks and explain their significance • Watch a movie set in that location

For example, if you’re going to Italy: make Roman helmets, try different pastas, watch Luca, color the Colosseum and talk about why a 2,000-year-old building is amazing.

By trip time, they know what they’re looking at. They know this bird doesn’t live at home. They have context instead of just being dragged along.

Does anyone else do something like this? Would love other ideas.