- I have made cruises with my children several times and we love it.
- I started to give them independence early, they are now 14 and 15 years old and I trust them by doing their thing.
- This helps them grow to be able to navigate in unknown situations.
I made more than 20 cruises, with and without my children, who are now adolescents. I think cruises are the best type of vacation with children because they need minimal reflection. You can live several destinations without facing the routes or dragging your luggage in and out of the different hotels. You don’t have to cook, and the most difficult decision you probably have to take is to choose between the buffet and the dining room.
It is also the ideal place to give children a little independence.
It all started with reading signs
When they were 8 years old and perfect their reading skills, we allowed our children to drive us around the ship instead. Most cruise ships have important signs to say to passengers on which the various activities are found, which facilitates the search for your path.
It started by heading for dinner aboard the Disney Wonder. While we are approaching the elevator, my partner underlined the panel and asked our boys: “How can we arrive at the Palace of the host here?” My children carefully read the panel and saw that the restaurant was on bridge 4 at the back. Based on this information, they learned that we had to use the elevator to descend four bridges and that the restaurant was located at the back of the ship.
The author and her husband began to give their children independence of cruises at the age of 10. With the kind authorization of the author
It took a little coaching and allowing them to make mistakes, but at the age of 10, my children were confidently sailing in cruise ships. We allowed them to leave the dinner table when they had finished eating, head for the children’s club and connect, leave my partner and I relax and take advantage of the company of the other. My children praised their cheese macaroni and rushed to play games with the children they met on board, and adults linger on the dessert. Everyone was happy.
When my boys were 12 years old, we raised most of the restrictions and allowed them to walk freely on the cruise ship, with constantly evolving rules as they age.
Yes, of course, we have rules
My boys are 14 and 15 years old. Do not let your mind jump to the worst scenarios and the visions of adolescents who have unleashed – Grubby children who line up in the buffet, being noisy during the shows and run to life on the bridge. Although it looks like a shot, an unconscious mom’s response, my children are not like that. I have no concerns about what they do something reckless, like trying to climb from one balcony to another, which is very dangerous. They won their freedoms by behaving responsiblely. And yes, of course, we have rules.
We demand that our children stay in touch with us via the cat function in the Cruise Line application throughout the cruise. No one is authorized in our cabin, our children can go to anyone, and we all go down to the ship together. They are old enough to find food for themselves, but we insist for dinner every evening with family. We communicate during the planning of our cruise so that our children have the contribution and knowledge of what we do with the family, and when they get free time, we reinforce this on the first day, as soon as we arrive on the ship.
A feeling of property
Our approach gives our children a feeling of belonging on their holidays, which helps them to enjoy more. Although I like to consider myself a “cool and non-regular” mother whose children want to spend time with me on vacation, if I am honest with myself, they appreciate me more in smaller doses because going out with their peers becomes more and more important.
Seeing my adolescents requisition an unknown territory using their spirits and their available resources is a proud mom’s moment, although it is accompanied on one side of sweet to realize that they need me less and less. Although the creation of the basic geography of ships, as being able to distinguish the port side of the starboard, are not skills they probably need in their life without a linche, I see my children to make their way through all kinds of unknown situations with self-assurance that started with a random decision to let them find their path to a ship restaurant.
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