9 Reasons Why Vacations are good for Children and Family Bonding

When growing up, for most adults, some of the best memories that still has a big impact and still lingering in our lives and memories are usually the incidents we experienced during our vacations when we were kids. We often feel nostalgic and happy when reminiscing those moments when we just stood mesmerized at the sight of certain things and happenings which were completely new or experiencing it for the first time or seeing the beautiful mountains, all these have in one way or the other for most of us has helped us to keep stronger family bonds which still brings out laughter, joy and friendly teasing with our parents and siblings.

It is a known fact that kids these days are much smarter than we were when we are of their age. Their eagerness to learn new things and their levels of curiosity to find out the answers is one reason why kids these days are always ready to go on a vacation and experience new adventures which are also one of the best ways to encourage and foster their passion for learning and finding answers. With the advancement in the ways of teaching and learning, experiencing practically has been proven to be better and faster than theoretically learning new things.

According to most child psychotherapist, taking family vacations offers the child with a new environment which is rich for learning thus helping in experiencing things in all the perspectives of interacting socially, physically and mentally. These experiences enriches the minds of the kids thus enhancing their IQs and thus making them much smarter than we were when we were younger, in short, the family vacations help in the brain development of the child thereby improving the concentration level and is beneficial both physically and mentally ultimately affecting their performance and improvement in their grades.

These days everyone is busy, even parents and children hardly get time to interact with one another and so most would not even remember the last time when they had a decent conversation together. Family vacations as such plays the role of bringing the time or moments when a family finally gets to interact uninterrupted. These experiences are also one of the reasons why family vacations are important where the families enjoy doing things together thus relaxing the minds of everyone and builds eternal bonding.

Another beneficial reason for taking a family vacation is that it acts as a de-stressor. Studies have time and again proven that the experiences of a holiday activate the brain and thus help in triggering healthy neurochemicals that ignites the happy hormones like dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins. The activities during these vacations like going for a quiet walk, swimming or trekking amidst nature can certainly help in distressing, reducing blood pressure, and controlling the cholesterol level thus leaving behind a happy feeling. Research studies prove that spending some quiet time amidst nature immensely improve a child’s concentration and attention.

Ignites curiosity in the child’s mind and bring out the explorer from within. A family vacation is filled with a lot of fun adventure both for the parents and child as the parents can lead the kids in exploring new places and enhance their curiosity level. The new place is like goldmine from where the kids and adults as well can learn and experience a lot, for instance about the local culture, language, flora and fauna, history and culture, and traditions. Adults and kids alike discover the diversity and kids also learn that there is another world besides their world that is as interesting and beautiful as theirs.

Another reason is the reminder and proof that these vacations are more important than toys and gifts. We all treasure and value the relationships we share with our family and are thus indispensable for the well-being of our kids as well as ourselves. So in order to strengthen our relationship and bond with the kids we often end up showering them with material gifts thinking that it will suffice but according to studies, kids who get the chance to experience and get exposure to new environments shares a stronger bond with their parents than those kids who receive toys and gifts.

Another important reason of family vacation is that exposing ourselves and our kids to new places help in improving social skills as the new place offers a lot of rich opportunities to learn and imbibe about the people, their language and culture, customs and traditions, their food habits, and their living styles. Usually, the parents teach the kids about the new places, yet kids these days being more inquisitive can learn a lot by interactions with the people by themselves and exploring the places with the help of the local people. All these interactions and exploring boosts the confidence of the kids thus helping in improving their social skills along with communication and interpersonal skills.

One of the most important reasons is it helps kids to be more open with their siblings and parents. Vacations are the times where the family bonding becomes stronger as kids and their siblings along with the parents spend more quality time together thus giving them an opportunity to open up about their likes and dislikes, joy and sorrows, fears and failures and other important issues which will clearly help in building the relationship stronger and getting to know each member of the family better. These moments can be taken advantage of by the parents to get the kids involved in an informal yet heart to heart conversations so that both the parents and kids will understand each other.