With vacations around the corner, one of the best pieces of advice I can give new parents is “simplify”.   Amongst all the mis-steps and poor judgments we may have made as “veteran” parents, this is one choice we do not regret.

When our kids were small, we made the conscious decision that we wanted them to appreciate simple pleasures and not rely on manufactured fun.  We made every effort to play outside, take picnics, go to the beach (even just for the day), and find interesting places to vacation that would encourage creativity, relaxation and reasonably good health.   In simple terms, it means taking a no ™ vacation.

There is so much to delight in turning over rocks, finding waterfalls, bringing your own picnic and exploring.  We would walk along trails quietly to see who could be the first to spy a wild animal or bird. I would do a little research in advance to find cool places in California.  Believe me; we are lucky to live here.

Our philosophy was not necessarily to save money but it often worked out that way.  We did travel to a few places over the years.  We took trips to Calistoga, Yosemite, and even travelled to Hawaii and France. We saved money by taking otherwise mostly modest short trips. We often prepared our own food, ate at markets and had just one nice top-notch dinner out.  That dinner out was a lesson too.  The goal was to raise young people that found the world interesting.   I’m about 20 years into this method so I vouch for it with full confidence.

Ultimately, our children grew to know how to interest, stimulate and entertain themselves without relying on what is marketed to them with big colorful marketing campaigns.  Believe it or not, I rarely heard remarks about boredom as my kids were growing up.   Don’t get me wrong, there are a few trade-offs.   My adventurous kids have also had a few broken bones, stitches and other “creative” mishaps.

We are not anti-theme-park, movie theater, etc.  We just know that all that stuff comes along soon enough from the rest of the world.  As parents, we felt the need to teach our kids to relax and enjoy simple pleasures.   I truly believe that is an essential skill to carry through into adulthood.

Take this vacation to teach your family to enjoy simple pleasures and you will not regret it.