My kid asked for screens while we were on a roller coaster

Yeah that really happened. Here's WHY it happened.

🤷🏻‍♂️If you’ve planned a big exciting trip with kids, you’ve probably experienced this too. We try to make sure we have the best things planned, and then the things our kids bring up for years are little details that don’t seem special at all. Why is this?

🤔On vacation, while we may intend it to be relaxing for our kids, it often is anything but. They may be doing fun things, but they are often being expected to be on their very best behavior. If they cry because they’re hot and tired, we feel they’re being ungrateful or unappreciative. If they whine about visiting a relative they don’t know, we feel they’re being disrespectful. But the reality is, they’re being asked to do things constantly on vacation and have very little choice.

🤯But in those “down” moments like resting in the hotel, we are able to give our kids what they really crave; choices and freedom. A kid who has spent all day being told where to walk, stand, or sit at Disneyworld is now being given $3 for the vending machine. That’s the first true freedom they may have had all day. And we are trusting them to walk there and make a choice on their own- that is WAY more power and choice than they typically get.

🧠We also prep our kids for trips. We show them photos of their cousins, or watch videos of roller coaster. We often DON’T prep them for these moments because they tend to skip by unnoticed for adults. For us, these are afterthoughts. But for kids these are wonderful glimpses into the future and chances to feel freedom in ways they haven’t yet.

What was YOUR favorite memory from a childhood trip? Share in the comments!