Beach vacation without the beach?
Even before we had kids, my husband and I agreed that water and sun vacations were our preference. Both of us are swimmers, he was a college water polo player, and we love spending time at the beach and in the water. Therefore, when our son (also our firstborn) was old enough to let us know that he hated the water, we were shocked. What was this going to do to our beach vacations?
The first time we took our kids to Maui in 2004, it was almost a disaster – we spent the first 2/3 of our vacation alternating our time between short visits to the pool and longer excursions to the Maui Ocean Center, as our son would not even go near the real ocean or beach. On the second-to-last-day, we finally coaxed him to the sand area by Black Rock Point on Kaanapali Beach, with promises of ice cream treats and special afternoon videos. And by the last day of our vacation, we got him to sit on the edge of the beach and let the water hit his feet. Progress!
Last summer’s trip to Maui turned out much better, for two reasons – we had been working hard on swim lessons and water comfort over the last several years, and, our youngest child is a water baby. Since our son is so competitive with his little sister, we used that to our advantage!
Our trip this time had a completely different feel and each day was a fun new water adventure for the kids. My daughter led the way with jumping and playing in the ocean; my son soon followed. Next up was learning to snorkel and when my daughter saw a turtle on our first trip out, my son had to one-up her by snorkeling all the way around Black Rock in Kaanapali. And when the kids decided they wanted to learn to boogie board, I was elated. I even promised my son that next time we come to Maui, he can take surf lessons. Hey, maybe we will learn together!
Have you overcome a barrier to travel within your family? How did you do it? Has it changed the way you travel with your family? Tell us about it!
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2 Responses
Great post. I had the same problem with my former dog. He had an accident when he was a puppy, going down in the water in the winter time, the ice did burst on a small river. I Had to train him to get used to the water again – he wouldn’t even go near it – and it were going verrrry slowly until we did take a friend with us. She had a female dog who just loved to swim and even did jump in the water from the bridge deck.
Since he wanted to impress on her, he suddenly jumped from the bridge deck too! Though you could clearly see his face expression when he had done it that he surprised himself!!! *giggles*
After that day it went the other way round: he got totally crazy for swimming and bathing for the rest of his life.
I think it can be the same with kids. They must build up a self-confidence.
When it comes to travel with a family I think it’s a good thing if the parents consider what the kids wants to do too. I’ve seen example of when the parents just take their kids with them, but don’t respect them at all and don’t take their wishes seriously.
A balance is the best, a little of pleasure for each part. The parents shall not wipe out themselves totally either, I’ve seen horror samples of that too.
Sounds like a touch situation when you realized for the first time that he didn’t share the love of water with you!
Good work , it is an inspiration to see that even situations that seemed impossible to cope with can be overcomed