Post written by Sherri Kruger. Follow me on Twitter.

When I used to travel I always found it a bit humorous to observe little ones with their parents. The kids were bored out of their minds, complaining and pouting. It was pretty safe to assume no one was having fun. Could these have just been snap shots of particularly bad points in the whole trip? Maybe. But more than likely the kids were dragged along whining and pouting with the promise of ice cream at the end of the day of sight seeing.

Well, now I have kids. The above scenario is no longer that humorous. I think about travelling with our kids and like every other parent out there I think: “That will never happen to us. We’re cool, we’ll go to cool places and we’ll do cool things”. But here’s what I’m realizing as I grow older: Cool is all relative.

Here are some ways that you can make your next family holiday planning session less stressful and end up with a holiday everyone enjoys. You may even avoid the whining and pouting altogether.

1. Choose the destination as a group. Pull out a map of your state, province, territory, country or neighbouring country. The time you have and budget constraints will largely dictate the type of holiday your family can have and how far you can venture from home. Let everyone have a say in where they’d like to go and why. Research the suggested places online or at the library and see what each has to offer. If you want to form a tradition of only visiting a place once, set that expectation early on. Decide on the most appropriate destination as a group. Keeping in mind the ages, likes and dislikes of all travelers. Make sure everyone is heard and that concerns aren’t just quickly dismissed.

2. Hand over the planning. If you have kids, and they are old enough, allow them to do most of the planning. Not only can you use it as a teaching opportunity for booking hotels, cars, and finding activities, it’ll likely ensure complete buy-in from your kids. If you have teenagers they may find a family vacation more enjoyable if they are able to invite a friend along. Talk with them and discuss your options. Think win-win when finalizing details.

3. What to do? Once you’ve decided on a destination research what family activities are available. Is there an amusement park that has something for everyone? Do you all enjoy theatre, movies or museums? If so, it should be relatively easy to plan your days. However, it’s unlikely you will all have the same interests. An alternate approach is to take turns choosing activities and there are two ways to do this:

1. You can assign certain days to certain people and leave it entirely up to them as to what you do on that day.
2. You can take turns throughout the day suggesting activities.

I prefer this second option as it appeases everyone throughout the day. Each person has something to look forward to for the day.

4. Don’t overdo it. Most of us go on vacation to relax, spend quality time together and experience different customs, food, and people. It’s important, however, not to overdo it. Planning too many activities each day can be stressful and extremely tiring, especially for young kids. Plan to have some mornings, afternoons or days even with nothing planned. Use these times to relax take in the scenery of where you are, sleep in, enjoy a long brunch. Slow down and take it all in. A holiday doesn’t need to be go go go all the time to be fulfilling.

A family holiday is a great way to reconnect with your loved ones. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money and it doesn’t need to be three weeks somewhere 10, 000 miles away. These ideas have helped take the stress out of our family vacation planning. We all have fun and come back feeling relaxed and refreshed.