Deciding for Two
A day without kids and without eight other family members and … what to do!?
What to do is the hard part, but the easy (or easier) part is deciding. With 10 people on vacation, every decision is one by committee (see notes from the past two weeks). Even with just the four of us, it’s the Adult vs. the Child decisions. Many thanks to my parents for watching our boys for two days and nights and this morning we were able to drive an hour and a half to see an old friend who just happened to be in the area the exact same day that we were. We didn’t have to check to see if:
- There’s a pool.
- We’d be back in time for … whatever.
- We had enough food.
- We could bring the “electrics.”
- We could stop for lunch (in fact, we skipped breakfast altogether to be on time).
- We’d be later while some unnamed boy didn’t tie his shoes, find his pants, or (name any other preparation item).
But you wouldn’t appreciate this if you didn’t normally have all of the decision trees to go through. It was an hour and a half away, driving through windy mountain roads to see a friend for maybe a couple of hours. If we had had to explain to the kids what we were doing, it would have taken half of our energy to just explain, much less get there.
What was especially fun about today was that it was spur of the moment, didn’t make a lot of logical sense … and that was just the right thing to do (without kids).
People without kids often will say, “Just tell the kids what you’re going to do and they’ll live with it.” Sure, they’re right. You can do that–and we do. But you also know that if the kids are having fun, you’ll also be happier. Or rather, maybe this is more clear: if the kids aren’t having fun there’s a higher chance that you won’t be either.
Bonus Points: after Idyllwild, we went to the ariel tram of Palm Springs and went up. Didn’t care what it really was or why or what was at the top, just wanted to do it. We did it. It was well worth it. Spectacular views, mountain hikes, and just the ride itself was worth it (if scary).
Would the kids have loved our day? No way. That made it especially good.
What do you without the input of your kids? Exactly what you want. [Idyllwild, California]
