“Where do we want to go on vacation next year?” Many families will ask themselves this question by the end of December at the latest.
Then, once you let your longings run free, promising names waft through the room – and above all through the heads of parents plagued by wanderlust: Mexico, Madagascar, Isle of Mull.
Then it's time to be strong!
Because suddenly the wishes of the children ring out, right in the middle of your Cape Town mental cinema from the Table Mountain plateau.
And your child may say something like this: »Back to Corsica!
Back to that beautiful beach with the boulders and the pencil ice!”
From now on, everything will revolve around the needs of the children - and their desire for the same days, consisting of chocolate croissants, sand castles and their first attempts at swimming in the pipi-warm Mediterranean Sea.
Parents who – armed with various parasols, beach tents and sun protection factor 50 tubes – do everything they can to prevent the impending sunburn.
From Uno games over lunchtime and pizza at sunset, feet in the rippling water.
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Holidays with children: What parents need to know about passports
Please do not misunderstand me!
There is nothing wrong with all these holiday components.
It's my own fault that my children love what I just described.
Because I love it myself.
In this respect, I'm happy to be forced onto a beach, if you want to call it that.
What just makes me think: that this kind of vacation with small children - at least at first glance - somehow seems to be without alternative.
You can replace them with vacations on a farm, camping at a vacation camp, or whatever type of vacation you have that repeats itself year after year.
Or are you one of those families who just won't accept the same procedure as last year?
Do you dare to try something new with your child or children - be it a hiking tour in the mountains, even though none of you have hiked before?
Or an unstructured castles-and-castles trip through Great Britain, where the short-term weather forecast will play a decisive role?
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Travel planning for 2023: How to get your holiday bargainBy Philipp Laage
When it comes to holiday planning, families can roughly be divided into two categories: those who like surprises and those who already know how the bed linen in the holiday home smells, which of course you will already have when you leave in 2022 secured for 2023.
How do you make decisions about your family travel?
Who sets the tone?
And what do you actually expect from your vacation, when was it a success for you?
If you like, please send me an email to julia.stanek@spiegel.de.
Maybe you'll tell me if you're embarking on a special holiday adventure with your children in 2023 - even if you're a bit nervous.
This is how family vacations work – my reading tips
Of course, every sentence you say about vacation carries ambivalence - especially at this time, when war has come to Europe with Putin's attack on Ukraine and with it unbearable suffering for so many people.
Aren't vacation issues a pure luxury problem?
According to the Paritätischer Gesamtverband, poverty in Germany has increased more rapidly in the past two years than it has since reunification.
The report from June found a sad new peak in child poverty.
Almost 21 percent of children and young people in Germany are considered poor.
While some talk about dream vacations, others can, yes, actually only dream of vacations.
A nice archive find: My colleagues Eva and Birte have summarized in this article how you can still travel with little financial means.
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Wishes, needs, expectations: how to travel successfully with grandparents and childrenBy Anne Otto
The number of families who, in these times of crisis, have to think carefully about whether they can afford a holiday at all, is likely to have risen sharply in view of inflation.
Everything is getting more expensive, including flights.
If you still decide to travel - and families undoubtedly need relaxation after the third year of Corona - you can find out in this article by my colleague Philipp how to book a holiday bargain.
In this text, my colleague Eva has summarized how you can get into the sun cheaply (and also sustainably) by train, for example to France, Spain and Croatia, with valuable tips from a well-informed rail expert.
The only question is how you can still manage to relax during the loveliest time of the year.
After all, holidays can be hard work, my colleague Jens Radü agrees.
This is especially true for single parents.
You can read a text worth reading about why the holiday season is the most stressful of the year for single-parent families - and what needs to change - here.
Have you ever thought about traveling with the children's grandparents, on a three-generation holiday?
Congratulations, good idea!
The advantages are apparent.
But, beware!
There are pitfalls lurking, which my colleague Anne Otto warns you about here.
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Playgrounds, sights, museums, restaurants: you must have seen and experienced this when you are in Berlin with childrenBy Julia Stanek
Whether camping with a baby is the right thing, sailing with children on the Baltic Sea or vacationing in an all-inclusive club - every family has to explore what suits them.
I personally love city trips with the kids.
Because they can be varied and entertaining.
And because the little ones have such big, great questions when they see places steeped in history and all these people on the streets.
It's a nice challenge to answer a nine-year-old who wants to know, "What makes you think of building a wall?"
Here you can find out why a visit to Berlin with children is also very worthwhile.
And here's how families enjoy themselves in Copenhagen.
The Last Judgement
Now it's New Year's Eve.
And even if you get the feeling that I have something against annual traditions: Of course we're having raclette tonight.
And "Dinner for One" on TV.
"Same procedure as every year, James." After all, there's nothing better than laughing together.
"It's a form of social glue that binds us together," the philosopher Yves Bossart told my colleague Sandra in this wonderful interview.
It's a look at the world that might help us in the new year.
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Food for the nerves: On New Year's Eve there is a hot pot by Verena Lugert
Maybe I'll do something other than raclette for the next turn of the year, for example Hot Pot.
The Chinese hot pot, a kind of broth fondue, is "perfect for a meal with friends to start the year of the rabbit, which promises hope," writes our cooking columnist Verena Lugert.
In her text she explains why she likes the dish so much.
By the way, Chinese New Year is celebrated at the end of January.
Also a good opportunity for the hot pot - maybe with children it just needs a little less chili.
my moment
We would be pleased if you send us feedback on this newsletter - whether it's praise or criticism or small scenes from everyday life.
A reader recently told us about a situation in the car.
She just wanted to help her little daughter out, but "the three-year-old can't be said at all right now," says the reader.
"Be careful or you'll be thrown out of the car," she said to the child.
And that said, "Mom, I can't fly out of the car.
I don't have wings."
I wish you and your families a good flight into the New Year – with or without wings.
And in the event of turbulence: keep your nerve!
Sincerely
yours, Julia Stanek