Tip 1: Pack your suitcase
The holiday preparation: There is a large piece of paper and tasks that are used to plan like shopping. Everyone is responsible for part of the holiday preparation:
- Interrupt newspaper delivery or request forwarding
- Water the flowers or arrange for the neighbors to clean the stairs
- Arrival and departure route, luggage drop-off, hotel bookings, holiday park tickets
- Put together a first-aid kit, sunscreen, mosquito bite ointment,…
- small children can be responsible for clothes, toothbrushes, games or the like.
Just before the trip, a holiday parkour organized in which everything is paced, checked together and possibly refilled. This is how packing stress becomes an event. In addition, cold drinks can be served – as expected in the holiday destination. It also refutes the later allegations: “I told you to think about XYZ!”
Tip 2: Travel stress
Boredom on arrival, traffic jams and tight spaces quickly increase the stress level. On the other hand, the classics help travel games
- License plate guesses (which city does the car come from with an “M”?)
- Forming sentences from license plates “HA-KVL 15” becomes “Hard arms come from the push-up 15”
- Play Auto-Bahn-Bingo (write car brands on a piece of paper and whoever sees one of them ticks it off – this can also be done with simple objects such as cow, pinwheel and river)
- Look for rhyming words and find a two or four line poem to go with it
- Practice tongue twisters: “Nine nice gnawing mice gnawed new nut pastries the other day”
- Celebrities guess – the respective team can only ask “yes-no answer” questions to solve the problem.
Travel sickness occurs when the balance organ signals: “I’m sitting”, but the eye says: “I’m driving!”. This irritating contradiction is reflected in dizziness, headaches and the use of sick bags. The distraction of playing games or singing along to the music is an effective brain storm distraction.
Tip 3: Distribution of tasks
Even on vacation there are tasks and restrictions that regulate living together: cooking, setting the table and clearing it, keeping the room reasonably tidy or looking after the “little ones”. Use Holiday Pokerwhen it comes to who’s turn. Using a deck of cards, you determine who it hits. The highest card value deserves the job.
The golden rule is: never the same thing twice in a row. If it hits the same person, that person is eliminated from the current round. Please never use competitive games to make a decision – where physical ability, mental arithmetic or geography is at stake. This is pressure to perform, which is guaranteed to spoil the holiday mood. As far as I’m concerned, there can also be dice or bells and whistles in groups with a knockout system.
Tip 4: Peer pressure
“Let’s go hiking together!” – “Oh no, I’d rather go to the pool!” Each family member has one per week joker cardto drop out of an activity. Everyone accepts that without comment. If others are affected, use tip 1. Everyone doesn’t feel like doing something, just needs a break or wants to do something alone. Self-determination is also an essential part of the holiday principle. Meeting up in the evening and talking about the day conveys a feeling of togetherness. There is little to tell when everyone is always involved in everything.
Tip 5: pocket money
Especially on vacation, the whining “I want that there!” is a whim of nature and goes into your wallet. Distribute one pocket money budget to the children from whom they can buy sweets, ice cream or activities. Once the money is spent, it’s all gone. The children can then have a pocket money loan from the following weeks sent to them. But that earns interest with “empty the dishwasher once”.
Tip 6: Holiday mood
You notice from the tips: a little humor and ease, a playful interaction takes away a lot of stress. The purpose of vacation is to spend a good time together. If everyone gets their due and still does the other things, something good can come out of it. Always take other interests into account in all activities.
Tip 7: Return
Then the good times are over and everyday life is just around the corner. How do you prevent the old routines strike again immediately?
- Plan the end of your vacation with a conclusion: in the evening, take a tour of the town together and review all the highlights.
- When you are at home, everyone meets up in the evening. Everyone remembers an experience from their vacation that was special for them with an object.
- Preserve a cherished holiday ritual. Especially the parents quickly fall into everyday life and so the beautiful memories dissolve far too quickly.
You can change these tips to suit your age or simply try them out. The game “Sentences from license plates” can also be played in foreign languages or in the context of training or work.
What should happen other than what you fear anyway? Albert Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
We wish you wonderful days of relaxation and a nice holiday.