How to Avoid Vacation Arguments

Vacation time will be coming up … and vacations provide some people with even more things to fight about than usual.

Here are a few possibilities that guarantee an argument:

• Don’t make plans, so when vacation time comes, you can hang around the house, feel miserable, and blame everyone for not doing anything on vacation.

• Go along with your partner’s suggestion to fly to your destination and then complain the entire time about the cost of the airline tickets.

• Plan a 2,500-mile trip when you have only a week’s vacation. Drive, drive, drive to get to your destination and back home again.

• Complain about money. For example, use these tried-and-true questions, “Why does everything cost so much money?” “Didn’t you realize how expensive this place was before you booked it?” “What do you kids think, we’re made out of, money?”

• Don’t forget to blame. For example, “I thought you made the hotel reservations. I thought you packed the binoculars. Why didn’t you remember to ask someone to get our mail?”

• Stick to your original ideas and accept no changes in plans. If it rains and you had planned to go to the beach, mope around and pout. Refuse to be consoled or get involved in any other activity. In other words, if you feel bummed out, make it a point to ruin everyone else’s day.

• If your children become sick or cranky because they’re off schedule and overtired, get mad at them.

• Insist that because this is a family vacation, everyone is going to do everything together, and have fun doing so!

Instead, you could decide that no matter where you go on vacation, you’ll accept the fact that you’ll probably run into some problems. You won’t criticize or blame or be moody or get too annoyed. You’ll prepare as much as possible. If you forget something, or you can’t do something, you’ll make the best of it. You’ll shrug, you’ll laugh, and you’ll enjoy experiencing life in a different way.

Check out Doris’ books, “The Boy Whose Idea Could Feed the World,” “The Parent Teacher Discussion Guide,“ and “Thin Becomes You” at Doris’ web page: http://www.doriswildhelmering.com.