Choosing To Travel Seriously

If you want to take your teenage children on vacation to Maui, these tips should ensure that all of you have an amazing time on this trip.

Find things to do in Maui that your teenagers would not have the chance to do at home

One of the challenges of taking teenagers on vacation is that they tend to be unenthusiastic about most tourist activities. If you suspect that it's going to be hard to find activities that your kids will be interested in, you should look for things to do in Maui that they would never have the chance to do at home. The novelty of doing these new activities (and perhaps the opportunity it will present to boast about their exciting vacation to their friends when they return from this trip) is likely to make them more interested in traveling to this place.

For example, if you live in a landlocked state and rarely travel outside it, then you should take advantage of Maui's proximity to the stunning North Pacific Ocean and focus on organizing activities that will let your kids spend time in these waters. For example, you could arrange for all of you to visit Maui's beautiful Coral Gardens or to go on a snorkeling tour and see the amazing marine life that lives near this island (such as spinner dolphins and green sea turtles). If you do this, make sure you bring an underwater camera so that your teens can capture plenty of images of all of these beautiful creatures. 

Let your teens do some activities by themselves

When parents plan a family vacation, they usually do so in order to spend lots of time with their kids. However, when you're vacationing with teenagers, it is important to loosen the apron strings a little bit and let them do some activities by themselves. Teenagers crave independence and will appreciate you giving them some freedom. Furthermore, they will be more likely to enthusiastically partake in family-centered activities during the vacation if you give them a couple of hours each day to do their own thing.

When deciding what they should be allowed to do on their own, you might want to focus on activities in Maui that you yourself would not be interested in, but which would appeal to younger people. For example, Maui has a lot of aerial adventure parks, that offer zip-lining and other adrenaline-inducing activities. If you prefer to relax on vacation, rather than do things that are exhilarating, then you might want to suggest to your teenagers that they visit some of these places on their own. Doing these things independently will be fun for them and will give them a chance to make friends their own age, too (which is harder for teenagers to do when their parents are around).