Traveling without your college kid

[princesscinderella]

I won't be able to do one with only my older daughter since my younger daughter needs me around. Her dad won't be able to take her to school or pick her up every day I'm gone, and might not be there on any given day, due to work.

I am lucky that I have a wonderful mother in law who loves to help with all the kids activities and shuttling to school. We have three and they are all in different schools this year, two are on the same calendar and the other is not so I totally understand your dilemma. It totally takes a village sometimes.

 

[mefordis]

I am lucky that I have a wonderful mother in law who loves to help with all the kids activities and shuttling to school. We have three and they are all in different schools this year, two are on the same calendar and the other is not so I totally understand your dilemma. It totally takes a village sometimes.

I never had help from family. My in laws live 2 hours away and they pretty much have their own lives with friends and wine. Good for them

 

[princesscinderella]

I never had help from family. My in laws live 2 hours away and they pretty much have their own lives with friends and wine. Good for them

My in laws were like that too, but my FIL passed away suddenly a few years ago and my MIL really struggled. She’s the type of person who needs to stay busy and she says it gives her a purpose to help with the kids, since she no longer has her partner.

 

[mefordis]

My in laws were like that too, but my FIL passed away suddenly a few years ago and my MIL really struggled. She’s the type of person who needs to stay busy and she says it gives her a purpose to help with the kids, since she no longer has her partner.

Good for her to have you and your kids to be with her and give her purpose. I think my mil would just spend a lot of time with her friends. She loves making and hanging out with friends.

 

[tvguy]

We waited until summer when everyone could travel.

Same here. Our kids are 4 years apart and the College and High School Spring breaks were the same week but our vacations with our kids were always in the summer anyway.

 

[Skippy918]

Our kindergartener and 3rd grader have different vacation schedules. So thats fun !!!

how does that happen? just curious.

after I went to college, my folks vacationed without me and that’s if they went on vacation. My parents weren’t big travelers.
I did my own thing on college spring break. One year it was a bunch of us going to a friend’s house in DC, another year was caribbean, another was Florida visiting my cousins. i enjoyed having my freedom to do what I wanted. Also went to Hawaii on a school trip during winter break.

 

[Kae]

We went without our College kid, they went on spring break with their friends. You have adjust, looks like your kids aren't going to be on the same spring breaks again. We took a trip right after the non-college kid got out of school one year.

 

[pxidst119]

We have 2 in college and one in highschool. We go away at the end of winter break and take the high schooler out a few extra days. In the summer we’ve changed to more local beach rentals so the college kids can come for a few days around their work schedule. We also did a completely different, short getaway with our highschooler for spring break so it didn’t seem like half of our family was missing at our traditional vacation spot. It’s been an adjustment but we’ve been happy with whatever time we can get together and discovered some new fun trips along the way.

 

[slo]

This is a tough one for you…..

I wouldn’t take a younger child out of school, since they are in 8th grade and may have a hard catching up (I’m not against taking kids out of school if they are not going to fall behind because of it)

I wouldn‘t go on a trip, that my oldest would LOVE to go on, without her. If it was a place that she’s just ok with, then I’d go without her.

In the end, I’d have a real good conversation with your oldest about this. She may tell you to go and not worry about her (I would have at this age) or she may tell you that she’d be very sad about you leaving her out. Once you talk to her you’d be able to make a better decision. Good luck - this is a tough decision.

 

[Brett Wyman]

how does that happen? just curious.

One in private(for dyslexia), one in public.

 

[Moliphino]

In my family we usually did summer vacations. When all three of us kids were in high school/college we did a couple "girls only" long weekend trips to WDW by ourselves in December. I (youngest) usually had to miss a couple days of school, but my sisters were already out on break.

 

[Praying Colonel]

DD was starting her freshman year of college and WDW was offering free dining during that time. We took our nephew in her place. It all worked out.

 

[Cadiewampus]

Going through something like that with our youngest. We decided just this week to do a Jan. 2023 trip for a few days to Universal. Told him we were going to go the third week in Jan. He said I have school can't go. Told him we could move it so it would be before school starts back. Of course now he says he has to think about it. UGH

 

[soccerdad72]

We do different trips with different kids.

And we've (semi) joked with our younger son, who is a senior, that the day we drop him off at college next year, we're heading to the nearest airport and going on a trip without our kids.

 

[amylevan]

This is going to sound callous, but that’s life, right? They’re in college, starting adult life with different responsibilities. I couldn’t vacation with my family once I started college between summer internships and differing break schedules. It’s part of growing up and out of the nest.

I did travel with college friends.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

TBH it really seems like a lot of parents overestimate the desire and/or angst their college children would feel about a situation. Obviously some really do miss the ability to go when they have conflicting schedules but from many comments over time through a variety of venues it's the parents anticipating issues...and those issues don't crop up as often as one thinks.

To me the type and place of the vacation is more where you might have hurt feelings, like if you knew your college kid desperately had wanted to go to X place and that's where you choose to vacation...well that's different and probably something you'd want to not do.

 

[mrodgers]

I find "spring break" for high school weird. We didn't have spring break nor did my kids. We had Easter, which was Thursday always a makeup day for snow, Good Friday, and back on Monday because Monday and Tuesday were always makeup days for snow.

 

[DLgal]

I find "spring break" for high school weird. We didn't have spring break nor did my kids. We had Easter, which was Thursday always a makeup day for snow, Good Friday, and back on Monday because Monday and Tuesday were always makeup days for snow.

Not everywhere has snow and needs makeup days built in.

 

[Travel60]

Both my kids did service trips (think repairing homes in Appalachia or similar) during their college spring breaks. Check with college daughter.

 

[DisneyHardin]

When I was in college and my sister was in high school. my Mom and her went on a couple of spring break trips and I didn't go - I honestly didn't think anything about it. My mom was also a teacher, so there was no way she could take me on a trip during my spring break. We usually did a family vacation in the summer also.