I'm wondering....when and why would you bring a friend of your child's on a family vacation? My oldest is 11 and two of her best friends are on vacation right now together with one of their families. BTW, they both do have other siblings near their age so I understand why sometimes you would have an only child bring a friend. I never did this as a child nor did it ever occur to me to ask to bring a friend. When we did family vacations they were for our family only. My husband and I were talking about it and he said he remembers having friends come on their family vacations too (and he was one of five kids). Frankly, as much as I love some of my kids' friends and they are very good, I wouldn't want them on our vaction. I figure one or two weeks out of the year, it's ok to do something with just your own family. I know this is just my opion based on my own experience so am curious to hear others' thoughts b/c I'm really just curious.
Thanks everyone for your input so far! I was specifically asking about non-family member friends and just the child going on a trip with another family, not traveling with another family (which we have done). We see our extended family very often b/c we all live pretty close to each other so going on a vacation together does not make the same sense as it might if we lived further apart. I think so many factors go into it including finances (for both families), distance that your traveling (my daughter's friends are three states away right now!) and other things. Guess it just depends on everyone's personal preferences too.
When I was a kid/teen I always went on river and beach trips with friends and they had siblings. I have an only child and have invited/paid for friends to go on cruises, Hawaii, Southern California stuff and she has been invited with friends as well (even to the East Coast). We do "alone trips" but it is fun with other kids as well.
Yes, I've brought their friends along, when they were older, teens or tweens. And my daughter was often invited to go places with other families.
I actually enjoy having friends and/or extended family members travel with us, especially my husband's brothers' families. I spend 24/7 with my husband and kids (besides school and work obviously) so it's nice to spend time with other people! My husband gets someone to play golf with and I have my SILs to hang out with, plus the kids have a lot more fun when their cousins and/or friends are there.
My kids have also traveled a few times with other family members and family friends. I don't find it strange at all, I never even thought to question it :)
Why? Because it's fun to go on an adventure with someone else's family and it's nice to have a little "break" from your siblings.
I remember going on weekend trips with friends and taking friends with us on trip. Nothing "big"- meaning no air travel, but a weekend at Disney World or Daytona (both about 3 hours from my childhood home)? Sure!
As we got older and stopped having "big parties" this was always an option for us too... pick 1 or 2 friends and go on an overnight adventure with my family. It was a blast!
To get them out of your hair and keep them out of each other's hair. My DH started doing it when he was able to rent a beach or lake house. The place was already rented and allowing each kid to bring 1 friend gave them someone to hang out with and actually gave him a more relaxing vacation as a single dad. It's not for everybody, and there are kids you do NOT want to take along. But one of SS's friends is practically another family member so it's almost a given that he's invited. We only do this when the venue allows - like a rental house where we stay in one place. We didn't bring any friends on our UK trip.
Oh, and even though we don't bring friends for DD yet, the older ones were very good about including her and taking care of her so we could get a break or *gasp!* a date!
When I was a kid, we often joined our cousins at the campground where they spent most of their summers in the RV. I guess this is just non-relative kids vs the relative kids I grew up with.
On the flip side, SD was also invited to go along with a friend last year, so that was nice.
I'm fine either way, but honestly sometimes I like the borrowed kid better. Borrowed kids often behave better for people who are not their parents. ;) But we did have one where we almost had to call her folks from our stop 3 hours in and ask them to come get her. Choose wisely.
And, DH and I grew up with less money for vacations (if we had them) so sometimes we know when we are able to offer, this is the only opportunity for that child to go on vacation that year. We don't ask for money, other than the child receiving spending money. We dine out once during our lake week at a nice place. Every other night is dining in. Often we have been offered money, but it's never required. Most of what we do is "well, it's nothing extra" for those 2 people so it doesn't increase our costs much. These friends are also only friends where we know them well, and we know their parents (and they know us). No random friend from school.
The best family vacation we ever had when I was growing up was the one where my sister got to bring along her best friend. We had a timeshare, so we didn't have to pay extra for a hotel. Everyone was on their best behavior because we had "company," and both my sister and I enjoyed having someone else to hang out with. My favorite part was that for once I had my own room (let alone my own bed!) because my sister shared with her friend. Not exactly sure what possessed my parents to extend the invitation, because it was incredibly out of character for them to be so generous and hospitable, but it was awesome.
Right now, I can only do trips with my kids that involve visiting other friends or family, because otherwise my son gets bored and lonely if it's just us. He's still little enough that the charms of another place are outweighed by homesickness and missing his friends and his toys. I think it would be great to bring along a buddy to help mitigate all that.
I don't find it unusual. My brothers used to bring friends along half the time on our family vacations. When that happened, I stayed behind with my best friend at her house since there was only so much room in our parents car. I didn't mind since I had a lot of fun with that.
My eldest daughter often goes away with my best friend when they go camping or to a hotel when visiting an out of state Six Flags. My own little family hasn't had much chance to vacation apart from daycations these past several years due to finances but we do things together with my best friend's family pretty often. We've gone camping all together before.
I'm once our finances are more stable again we'll take her kids with us on vacations. I'm also sure I'll bring my brothers' kids. I'm hoping to plan a camping trip with my brothers soon, actually.
my kids have both gone on vacations with friends and their families, and we've taken their friends along on some of ours.
of course it's okay to do stuff with your own family. we've done that too. taking friends or sending your kids when invited does not mean you don't value family-only time.
if you don't want to, don't do it.
:::::::shrugs::::::
khairete
S.
My son went with his best friend on vacation. They are 5. My son is an only child, but his best friend has 2 other siblings. I don't find it weird at all. Whatever makes the families happy on vacation.
Live in Texas and my daughter took her best friend with us when we went to see my brother in Florida and a different friend when we went to PA to visit my parents (different years). We have a son who's 3 years older than her and she wanted someone to "hang" with and her parents weren't taking a vaca that year. The one to PA, we dropped her off near where we were going because her grandma was in a nearby town, so she was just with us for the ride up and back.
My almost 11 year old goes with his best friend on most of their vacations, but his friend is an only child, so it is much easier for his parents to take another child to keep their child occupied. My son is also extremely well behaved and polite. We have taken their son on a few camping trips, but when we go on vacation, I don't want another child with us. I honestly have zero patience with other children. We don't often get family vacations because of finances, either.
I grew up living with my aunt and uncle. They have two daughters (8 & 9 years older than me) so when we went somewhere it was the 5 of us. When I went w/ my mom (every other weekend, a week at Christmas, and two weeks in the summer) we never went on "vacation" but if she was taking me to the beach for the day I typcially got to invite a friend.
I especially see the value if you have an only child or if your kids are spaced out. Other than that, not sure.
My daughter is an only child, and I kind of wish we could take another child on vacation with us. I'm sure it'd be more fun to go to SeaWorld, an amusement park or the park with a friend than with her old mom. She's only 4 right now, so she's too young. We usually travel with her cousins, but they are 8 1/2 and 12 yrs older than she is. So, eventually it'd be fun.
I can see where it'd be good to take another child for an only child, if there is a big age span or if there are an odd number of kids.
You sound like me on this issue.
As teens we did bring friends along on vacations . . . and I'm one of three kids. Sometimes we had multiple friends.
It's funny but my sons have no interest LOL. I'm not so sure I would be that keen on it either honestly. Our family is very close and we like to get away together sometimes, without worrying about others.
Yeah, I think it's pretty common, especially in the teenagers years, no matter how many siblings you have. I have 5 sisters, we never vacationed alone with just our nuclear family so there were always cousins involved too. As a teenager we were allowed to bring a friend, but usually only one of us sisters at a time (we're spread out though so only one sister was ever a teen at any given time). I don't remember my younger sisters doing it as much because there were a cluster of girl cousins their age and they were always thick as thieves. I only have a male cousin my age so when we got to our teens years we would bring friends. There were a couple really fun beach house summers where I would bring a couple girls and he would bring a couple guys... good times ;)
When my now 14 year old daughter was in 2nd grade, she was invited to vacation for 8 days in Branson, MO with her very good friend and family. Not sure why they would consider taking a child that wasn't theirs other than my friend Kelly (the other child's mother) used to joke that my girl was her "nice daughter" because her own was, let's say, a big ol' brat LOL Anyway, I guess she was good company for their daughter. I would be willing to take along one of my daughter's friends now if she ever asked (we have a camper so we take several trips a year) but the other girl would have to be calm and not so crazy like some of today's teenagers :-)
When I was a kid it was pretty standard practice (in the 70's and 80's). I usually joined my friends families on weekend camping trips, and they would come along with my family. I went on a couple of extended vacations with friends families as well, one for a week, and one for three weeks, but those were when I was a teen. I didn't have siblings close in age to myself, but most of my friends did. I haven't brought any of my kids friends on vacation with us yet, but my son did go away for a weekend with one of his friends(They moved away before I could reciprocate). I do take them on lots of day trips to the beach and such.
Both my sister and I had friends come on family vacations when we were kids. We are four years apart in age, so we were never interested in the same things at the same time. We loved it and always had a lot of fun. I'm glad our parents let us do this!
