DUSTY WALLET

Taking the kids for a vacation from their videogaming lives is expensive and maynot be as muchfun as you think, so you may as well doit on the cheap

The costs of taking your ungrateful kids on vacation.

Family vacations are exhausting, expensive and what’s the real point of them when your children don’t even appreciate the trips? For example, taking two pre-teens to one of the world’s most famous museums was probably not a good idea. Disney would have been better.

“The type of family vacation needs to change as the kids change and grow up. What makes them happy when they are toddlers — swimming pools and sand castles — doesn’t work by the time they are teenagers,” says Sean Shannon, managing director at Expedia Canada Corp.

But aside from disgruntled children who would rather be playing videogames with their friends, there’s also the cost. There are very few breaks for families: A six-yearold pays the same airfare as an adult and only infants ride for free these days. Hotels sometimes offer deals whereby children are free. But if you have three kids, as parents, you’re not only outnumbered, you’re above the fire code since most establishments only allow four in a room. That means getting a second one.

There are other ways to save, such as flying out of a U.S. airport to avoid higher Canadian taxes and levies, but changing your schedule is probably your best bet. “It’s the old supply-and-demand theory; they are not making more airplanes,” says Shannon about the Christmas season and March break when families want to travel. Booking early can save a little money, but bigger savings can be had in non-traditional vacation seasons when prices drop to encourage trips. “There can be a lot of deals in September and October, because travel companies know the kids can’t go,” she adds.

The major savings come if you send your children back to school a couple of days after everyone else, take them out of a term early or even make a vacation in the middle of the year. “I hear people doing this all the time,” says Elaine Danson, a Toronto-based education consultant who is also a former principal. “Generally speaking, I don’t agree with kids being pulled out for vacation time.”

Danson says no matter what the age, pulling children out of class sets a bad example for them about the importance of school. But she has some exceptions. If the only way to get together with cousins and afford it is to pull children out of school, sometimes that’s okay. An educational trip, “not a couple of days on the beach,” can also be worth it because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where the child learns something and can bring the information back to school.

In the latter case, don’t forget to take a lot of pictures. “Keep showing them, too,” Shannon says. Even the so-called educational trips will likely be quickly forgotten. But, hey, I have a picture of my kids in front of the Mona Lisa and that means something to me at the very least.