Sharing memorable experiences with your young adult children (or grandchildren) can be difficult. They have their own lives and want finally to dictate how to live them; and for some, simply coming home to spend time with family is not a top priority. (Shocking, right?!)
Cue: taking the (grown) kids on vacation or a local adventure. Once the real world hits, with its oh-so-real expenses, our young adults seem more willing to spend time with us as long as we pick up the tab. I was told this would happen by friends whose kids were older than mine, but I truly didn't think it would happen to me. My kid, after all, was embracing new-found independence with abandon. To wit, The Kid took a vacation with a friend, paid for out of hard-earned money from the first "real" job. The budget was set and kept to (Yay, budgeting win!). The experience was, well, not as good as expected, in large part because it wasn't as "nice" as one of our typical family vacations. (DUH!) And thus began The Kid's realization that traveling with parents (on their dime (or mostly their dime)) is a great way to have a nice vacation AND make the parents happy.
But, to be clear, these shared travel (and local) experiences need not be extravagant or far or exotic, but they do need to be things the young adult wants to take. And, depending on how spoiled or well-traveled your young adult is, the price tag can be not inconsequential. But isn't this a form of bribery, really? Well, yeah. But I would posit that sharing memorable experiences with your newly grown kids is it's worth it.
So, what types of trips/experiences are good to share with your young adults? Well, that depends on your young adult and what they enjoy -- that you enjoy as well. A beach getaway will work for some, a city escape will work for others. Do you all enjoy food? The outdoors? Take a food tour (almost every city offers one); plan to hike/raft/snowmobile/ ride wave runners; maybe an Escape Room. If everyone enjoys the trip/ experience, it will be great and memorable, and (I hope) keep the kids coming back for more quality time with family.
After all, doesn't it seem logical that establishing a good adult relationship early in the independent life of your kid is the ticket to having a strong, close bond throughout their adulthood and your dotage. At least that's what I'm banking on, lol.
Take all the pictures and make an album afterwards so the memories are never lost. (I'll be going into detail about that in another post at some point).
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