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JUNE 2007

FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT’S CORNER
Making Lasting Memories on Vacation

By Dr. Carole G. Hankin with Randi T. Sachs

With summer upon us, many of you are probably planning trips with your family. No doubt you’ve chosen your destination carefully and considered many different factors. The ages and interest of your children are certain to impact your decision, but the good news is that for most children, any kind of travel can be an adventure and an opportunity for learning.

Summer travel has some unique advantages. It’s a great chance to get away from your family’s usual routine and rhythm of meshing everyone’s individual activities and interests into your daily calendar. It’s a time to connect with one another. So be sure to include some downtime on your itinerary, even if you have a lot of different sights you want to visit. On vacation, you can all experience new things together. You can take adventure trips such as white water rafting, hiking on mountain trails, or horseback riding, all carefully guided and supervised by experts. You can experience different cultures, or see great works of art that you may only have seen before in books.

If your children are old enough, give them their own inexpensive digital cameras and let them snap away. Digital cameras are so freeing for the young photographer. They can see their photos instantly, and if it’s not worth keeping it can be deleted just as fast. The expenses saved from having film developed quickly cover the cost of the cameras for your children.

My granddaughter keeps a special travelogue album that she created based on the popular “Flat Stanley” character. A paper doll she made in her own image is taken along on all her trips. She photographs the doll in different settings and then pastes the picture along with a written description in her album. It’s a great way to motivate your children to write about their travel experiences and also about the interesting people that they meet during their family adventures. She also will send the doll along with family or friends on trips of their own. They take a picture of the doll in a different setting, and she learns about that place and writes about it in her album.

If your travel plans bring your children together with new friends or family you don’t get to see regularly—perhaps cousins who live far away, or friends they meet at a resort area children’s program—it’s become quite easy to maintain these friendships as email pals (the modern-day answer to pen pals).

Vacation travel can be very special times for children. With photographs and written descriptions they can revisit their favorite places anytime they want to. Enjoy viewing their photo albums and scrapbooks with them. You’ll be able to take the trip all over again through your children’s eyes.#

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