Coming to the end of holiday or family vacation can be hard for many reasons, espically if you have been catching up with friends and family. You might find you get a lump in your throat, but your children may also be feeling the emotion of saying good bye to the family holiday. Just recently we had a fantastic time catching up with close friends and watching our children play together and get on so well (one of the simple joys of having kids), but when the time came to say goodbye our 3 year old found it difficult to say good bye to his new friend.
So what should you do to help and teach your child to cope with the emotions that come with saying good-bye to friends and family after a great family vacation, especially when your child’s lip turns down and says “I don’t want you to go”?
We suggest following the 3Rs to saying good-bye with kids, Reasure, Reward and Remind your kids.
- Reassure your child that its okay to say good bye and that you need to travel onto your next destination or your family and friends need to travel onto their next destination.
- Reward, if you are travelling onto another destination or doing another activity provide an incentive for the future this will provide some hope to your child that things will get better with saying good bye. If you are planning on catching up again soon, let them know about these plans this will reward them with hope.
- Remind, Remind your child how good the past was, share the photos, let them share stories what they liked about catching up with your “family” or “friends” and what they found funny.
Simple ways to make it easier
- Reassure your child that its okay and their friend or your family need to needs to continue your trip
- Give them hope about the future – ie “we can play with all your toys when we go home”, “would you like to call “tommy” on skype from home”
- Give them some reasons to their why questions.
- Teach them that its okay to say good bye
- Provide catch up opportunity online via the tech version of “pen friends letters” – Skype and email
Not recommended actions
- Hide them from the good-bye process as this will only confuse your child when they realise their “family or friend’s” have gone.
- Tell little lies about why you are going or they are going, kids are clever they will discover the lie and learn that its okay to tell little white lies.
- Don’t make plans about trips or catching up again if its false, this will only bring up the emotions.
Share your advice or story about saying good bye to your vacation with your kids, and dealing with those sad emotions that come with ending a fantastic holiday? Share your comments below or share on our new facebook page
