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Show TIPS ON TRIPS jfjg TRAVELING WITH KIDS By Unda Albert mud Elaint Fanllt Shimberg. author of COPING WITH KJDS AND VACATION (BaUantuit) Fill this year's family vacation vaca-tion with fun and avoid some of the usual frustration. Every minute spent in careful planning and preparation before be-fore backing the car out of the driveway means extra hours of mutual enjoyment and years of precious memories. Let the following guidelines for planning be your roadmap into vacationland: 1 e Be realistic. Even vacations vaca-tions with an educational or skill focus should be fun and include some time for relaxing relax-ing without organized ac- 1 tivities. Don't plan for every 1 minute. ' Include something for everyone. You need not try to please all of the people all of the time, but rather be sure each person has something they like to look forward to frequently. The older children and adults might never admit it, but visiting a petting zoo can be fun for them as well. e Pack your sense of humor. All travel includes a visit by the unexpected. Kids pick up on your tension. Accept, Ac-cept, adapt, try to smile. Today's "tragedy" may become be-come tomorrow's inside family fam-ily joke. e Families with kids, like armies, travel on their stomachs. stom-achs. On vacations, kids seem preoccupied with thoughts of food. Eat some meals in restaurants res-taurants with local specialties special-ties and others in familiar family-oriented settings such as the Big Boy restaurants which can be found throughout through-out the United States. These restaurants are expecting children and are a good value for the dollar. These tips should make vacation dining more pleasant: Teach table manners at home, not in restaurants. If you're nervous about your children's table manners, start playing "restaurant" before be-fore the vacation. Make sure YOU set a good example. When you spot "goofs" in public, pub-lic, save the corrections for later. Bring along things to do while waiting. Coloring books, cards, riddles, toy cars, and crossword puzzles make the time pass quickly. Many restaurants, such as Big Boy, furnish their own comic books for children to read. e Enjoy the opportunity for the whole family to sit down to eat and talk about anything and everything. You might be surprised what you'll learn about your kids. On vacation they may be freer with their thoughts and find it's fun to share ideas with their parents. For more valuable information informa-tion on traveling with children, chil-dren, read coping with kids and vacation, by Linda Albert Al-bert and Elaine Fantle Shimberg. Shim-berg. It's your fun reading guide to surviving summer with your kids. |