Family vacation duration – v=x+y-z
This is a sample of "Pajama Diaries" from their website. Buy today's Boston Globe to see the whole cartoon.
The formula to determine the length of a family vacation is featured in today’s comic strip, “The Pajama Diaries” by Terri Libenson: V= X + Y – Z.
V= Vacation time, X= number of children Y= sum of their ages, Z = number of weekly meltdowns.
The mom does a calculation and announces, “Aaand the grand total is … 3.5 days!!”
Family vacations can translate in family endurance tests. Whatever your relationship is with your children when you’re at home will be intensified ten times when your family is on vacation.
Learning to enjoy, not endure your children is an art that takes time, training and practice. I learned it for my four children by taking discussion classes with other parents, reading books based on ONE consistent approach pioneered by Alfred Adler, and practicing.
There is no magic one-click fix to raising children. It feels like a never-ending cycle of trial and error, frustration and doubt, and fear that you’re forever damaging your child.
That’s where parenting classes come in handy because you find out you’re not alone, learn a new approach together and come away feeling better and armed with a plan to respond differently when children behave poorly.
That’s the MOST challenging aspect of parenthood: we cannot control our children. We can only control our response to them.
If you want to enjoy, not endure your children and pave the way for a low-hassle adolescence, sign up for my six-week online parenting course starting Sept. 1, 2010. Brat-proof your family, gain sanity and be the parent you want to be.
