If there was ever a better example of parents letting the kids take over, is putting them in charge of holiday planning. But that is exactly what Flight Centre is doing this month with the launch of the new ‘Kids in Charge’ service.
Are you ready to let your children choose your next holiday? Image by Alistair Berg/Getty Images
From December Flight Centre’s travel planning consultants will create tailor-made family holidays based entirely on children’s ideas and imaginations, so that exhausted parents can head out on their family holiday safe in the knowledge that their trip was being planned with their kids’ best interests at heart.
A travel company is encouraging kids to choose the family vacation. Image by ferrantraite/Getty Images
Speak to any parent and they’ll tell you parenthood changes everything. Research has shown that holidays are among the top five things that children influence most in their parents’ lives (along with sleep and eating out). New research by Flight Centre confirms the majority of parents (three out of four) find decision-making more difficult since having children, and almost half of parents’ everyday decisions are based entirely around their children. In fact, children’s’ needs take such a priority that parents say their biggest worry when they go on holiday is keeping kids entertained (33%) – which is more of a concern than travel vaccinations (7%) or flight delays (16%).
What children want to do on holidays is not always what you might expect. Image by Johner Images/Getty Images
Yvonne Hobden, head of marketing at Flight Centre, commented: “family holidays are where memories are made, but with parents finding decision-making more difficult and revolving so many choices around their kids on a daily basis, we want to bring the fun and spontaneity back to holidays. Our team have been blown away by the kind and imaginative ideas kids have come up with, from their own weird and wacky dream holidays to wanting to reward their parents and spend quality time together.”
Letting the kids decide was also the premise behind one of the fifty ‘Everyday Adventures’ in the Lonely Planet title that came out earlier this year with sometimes hilarious, but always heart-warming, results. When asked what they want to do on a holiday, what children want is not always what one would expect. Maybe it is time we handed over the reins for holiday planning to kids from now on?
We look forward to hearing what Flight Centre’s travel consultants uncover in the minds of the next generation of adventurers.
The post Are you ready to let your children choose your next family holiday? appeared first on Lonely Planet Travel News.