In your opinions which is better summer vacation experience for kids?
a) Going to the same summer spot to swim, fish, hike, bike and explore to your heart's content year after year. Thereby developing a comfortable feeling and familiarity with one place that is different from home; or

b)Going somewhere new and different each summer, experiencing new things,new people and new foods, becoming accustom to traveling, seeing the wonders of the US and the world.

I grew up with option a, my husband grew up with option b. I think I missed out on seeing new places as a kid. On the other hand, my husband has never experienced the feeling of returning to a great place over and over again. Currently we go to a new place every summmer but I'm beginning to think that our kids are missing out on what I grew up with.

Any one care to share their thoughts? And no I am not a troll nor a travel writer. Just interested in other people's ideas and schools of thought.

The whole return-vs-explore dilemma depends on so many things: Your kids' ages, your budget, and most of all your kids' natures. Also, unfortunately, security: kids can't just wander around like they used to.

I have one restless kid who wants to see new things all the time and one who'd just as soon go to the same place every year. Since I'm the traveling sort (surprise!) , that's what we do.

My homebody is very jealous of his friends who go back to the same cottages every summer, but my wanderer-child would be bored to tears.

So I'd guess it depends on the kid. IMHO you and your husband are lucky that you enjoyed the alternatives you were given. If you have a two-week vacation, perhaps you could compromise and do a week of each?

Hi Bennie!
When my kids were younger, we'd visit family at the beach year after year. Now that they are entering their teen years we try to explore a different place (but still within driving) distance.
As I recall, you are from the Boston area. Good weather in New England is such a short season, we mostly stay "local" in the summer (Quebec to Mystic), and fly south for winter break. That used to be Disney, but the past couple years we've tried different islands.
I have often considered your dilemna, as well, and am interested in what others have to say!

New stuff, anytime.

I think the key is new experiences. Going to The Cape Cod National Seashore one year and another beach vacation is certainly a change in venue, but the only difference is the location of the clam shack.
Please excuse my predispositions...we tend to like to mix exploration with relaxation, so the history, educational opportunities and culture of the various places we have been very important.....

And, yes, we loved Disney!

Why not do both? Do at least 2 vacations a year-one, the old family favorite, and one new adventure each year. Come to think of it, I think we need to do two or three new adventures a year in addition to our week at the beach.

I'm voting for the repeat vacation, with an asterisk.

Unless the kids absolutely hate the place, there's some charm and memories to going back to a familiar place. However, you can add some variety to the same-place vacation by doing something a little different each year.

For instance, we went to Cape Cod for several years, but we'd always break it up with a day trip: one year to a game at Fenway, another to Plymouth, another to the JFK Library, etc.

In the end, though, it's not where you go that makes for a great family vacation.

I agree with Rachel. Several years ago we started going to Colorado for the last week of July or the first week of August. We usually go to the same area and it's nice to know the best restaurants, activities, etc. We still take another vacation or two during the year but things just aren't quite right if I don't get to the Mountains for a week to relax! The other vacations aren't as relaxing as you are on the go exploring new things and trying to do it all in the time that you're there.

Unfortunately for us there is only 1 family vacation per year. Both time and money are limited. But I think that some excellent points have been raised here. My kids dispositions are such that they love new stuff. And I know I'm bored to tears with a week at the Cape as an adult despite loving it as a kid. So perhaps we have found the right path for our family without even being aware of it.

Sleeper - I think you hit the nail on the head. Its not the place but rather the time spent together and the shared memories.

bennie, I think one thing to consider is the ages of your children. Mine are still very young and I think they really like the familiarity of revisiting someplace. However, the oldest does ask a lot, "will we ever go back to ---?" or "why don't we ever go to the same place again?" I feel kind of bad sometimes that we don't revisit a place that she loved. We tend to like going places we've never been before. On the other hand, Grandma has a lake house near us that we go to 3-4 times a summer, so that sort of suffices as our "revisit" vacation.

I like Rachel's idea of doing both. You could find a place such as a lake or beach that's close and/or fairly inexpensive to revisit, and also go somewhere new by plane or a long drive for the really BIG vacation. There are so many great places to visit just here in the US and of course worldwide, it seems a shame to limit yourselves.

I am for mixing it up as well. I have 2 kids (5 & 3) We have always gone somewhere differnt every year for vacation even way before children were born. We do however rent a condo in Florida (Sarasota) every single year we have been married (8 yrs) for Thanksgiving. This is something hubby's family does. My in laws, hubby and me and his sister and her husband and their kids all rent condos together for Wed-Sat of Thanksgiving break (a mini vacation I guess) We always go out to eat for a special Thanksgiving dinner and spend the rest of the time together on the beach or making family memories (we are all spread out in different states and this is the one time each year his whole family gets together)

My husband and I however take our annual one week family vacation with kids each summer to a differnt location each year and try to mix it up. We have done Caribbean all-inclusive, disneyworld, Canada (Montreal and Quebec, Italy, New Orleans etc.

Also my husband and I take another vacation of just us each year (short, 4 days usually) and fly somewhere to do just adult things. I think its important to spend time together and apart, with and without extended family, sometimes in the same place (Thanksgiving trip) other times in different locales (our family vacation each summer). Mix it up and do both!

Your choice of a) Going to the same summer spot to swim, fish, hike, bike and explore to your heart's content year after year appeals to me for many reasons. It encourages family togetherness which is generally sorely lacking in today's families, even when only one parent works outside the home, kids are frequently overwhelmed with activities. This type of trip provides a chance to reconnect. It also allows kids to invent their own fun rather than being spoon-fed entertainment from their parents. We camped a lot when I was a kid, even though I saw a lot of the country in my travels, we still had the shared experience of the camping portion of the trip.

Yes, I think it's great to go someplace totally new and different every few years, but my first choice would be the one you listed under a).

But here is another thought. Who is paying for this vacation? Who works all year long to just get a week or two off? Isn't that THE ADULTS? It seems to me that we cater to our kids 52 weeks of the year. Maybe the decision on where to vacation should be one of what the parents want to do and not what the kids want to do. Anyone agree?

Agree depends on your budget. I like going to Hawaii every year. If my choice was to go the Jersey Shore I think I would feel stifled. But I agree that if I just could not afford a trip to Canada, out west or any place else a car could take me than I would settle on the Jersey Shore. Depressing Jersey, hardly but I do enjoy exposing kids to new things. Traveling around the world broaden my interests and perceptions after college would love to see how this would impact a child. Think travel around the U.S would be equally interesting for a child. Northern lights, Grand Canyon, San Francisco and Dallas Texas would something new and different.

Went to the Jersey Shore every summer of my childhood. Loved the experience and memories. Never felt like a tourist because I was there every summer. However, now that I'm older I love to travel to new places. It does depend on the children's age.

Have a great summer!

Why don't you ask you kids what they would like...you have good arguments for both. I personally would take them somewhere different.

X - I don't ask my kids what to do because I am trying to determine as a parent what is best for them. I'm asking other adults to evaluate the pros and cons of each scenerio with the intent that other adults would look back and discuss their experiences as kids and how those experiences have influenced them as adults. My young children, with their very limited experiences and perspectives, may not be the resource, though of course their desires are incorporated into any game plan. But really my intent was to start an interesting (hopefully) conversation with people who have different perspectives than just me and my dh. Thanks to all who replied.

We could really only do one vacation a year growing up and I recall when we were younger (not yet teens) we would go to a lot of the east coast historical type places (Philadelphia, Boston, Williamsburg, DC etc) but would still hit the beach on weekends etc (living in NY not far from the beaches of LI)and once we were older we would do the beach vacations alternating between Jersey Shore and Cape Cod. Why not alternate?

I think we are doing both with our kids. You don't need to return to the same place *every year* for it to be familiar. You could go every few years, and when they are older they will probably look back fondly on the repeat visits every few years to that comfortable, familiar place.

For instance, we've taken our kids to the same house in Hawaii four times. But, we've also taken them other places in the world on vacation, sort of alternating the trips. And, we took them to visit family in Scotland last summer for the first time, but I plan on taking them back there every few years so it will seem like a home away from home to them, and give them more comfort when they set out on their own to travel to Europe as adults.

In fact, I have a picture of my six year-old daughter walking down a wooded path in Scotland, where my aunt had just planted a row of trees. I plan on taking that same picture every time we return so we can watch my daughter grow, along with those trees. Those kind of ties to a place are as valuable as adventures to new and unfamiliar places, I believe. I also greatly treasure the memory of my kids watching a fire breather at an Italian medieval festival.

Give them both familiarity and new experiences!

Both vacation types definitely have their appeal. My suggestion is to alternate. But even on those vacations where you go back to a place where you've already been, your children have grown older each trip and won't see the activities the same each time. And I'm sure that there are things at that vacation spot that you didn't get to do the last time you were there.

My boys are now 23 & 26. We started traveling with them when the oldest was only 7 months old and went every year until they were in their late teens. Now they go on their own traveling vacations.

When I look back I see we did a combination of both. Since the boys came along we have had some kind of RV (tent-trailer & trailer) and went camping all over the US & Canada.

We love to explore new places and had 3 - 5 weeks each year to do it. Most of our vacations ended up in Zion National Park for a couple of days of hiking, playing in the river, tubing in the river, and just relaxing.

Utahtea

We break it up. We go to Cape Cod every other summer. In between we take our boys different place and always try to make some long weekend getaways to differnt spots during the year (including Cape Cod).

We live in Boston so we feel blessed to have so many choices nearby. Last summer was the Cape- this summer it's a road trip to Williamsburg & DC! Next summer- back to the Cape.