Vacations should be the time in your life when you de-stress, taking some time away from the daily grind to rest, recuperate, explore and most importantly have fun. This however, is easier said than done when you have children with you and planning for a stress-free family vacation needs to be done with precision. Naturally you want to have fun and you want the exact same thing for your children but very often the excitement of it all can lead to misbehaviour on your child’s part and can often spoil the good times. To avoid such a situation, here are some tips that can help you keep your kids from being naughty on vacation.

Lay Down the Rules

It is important that before you leave for your vacations that you let your kids know what is going to be happening when you’re away. You can use these talks to let them know that there will be more flexibility than normal, perhaps later bed times or food that they usually wouldn’t be allowed to eat will be available to them. Coupled with these benefits, you need to also let them know that these extra luxuries come at a price, their behaviour, It is far better if you speak with them before your vacation as if you need to do it during, it will take the child’s sense of freedom away and could lead to worse behaviour. Doing this also creates a point of reference that you can point to during your vacations.

Watch What They Eat

Naturally we relax a little with the rules when it comes to a vacation but you still need to be mindful of what your child is eating. Your kids will be excitable enough when they are away and the last thing that they need is a body full of sugar and E-numbers which can make them grumpy after the sugar rush.

Sleep is More Important

A day spent bombing in the pool, at a theme park, on an adventure playing sports and meeting new friends is more than enough for any kid to handle and they will be wiped out by the end of the day. Whilst you can relax rules around bedtimes, it’s important to ensure that your child still gets sufficient sleep. Lack of sleep equals grumpy child who will be more likely to misbehave.

Time Out 

The excitement of the holiday can sometimes be too much for a child and therefore it is vital that you take them out of the madness for an hour a day. The excitement of the holiday can sometimes be too much for a child and therefore it is vital that you take them out of the madness for an hour a day. Perhaps take them back to the room, let them play some online games on a tablet or watch a Disney film for a while, anything to turn their attention elsewhere. This will calm your child’s

Recently we have watched together “Finding Dory” and there’s plenty of free online games related to this friendly-but-forgetful fish: check out our favourites here! This will calm your child’s mind down a bit before they head back out into the fun.

Incentivise

This is the key to a happy holiday, an incentive, perhaps there is a theme park or an aqua park that your kid really wants to go to, organise this for the last or penultimate day. Doing this means that you have something to negotiate with your child when they begin misbehaving, remind them that if they are naughty then you won’t be going to the attraction that they want. Carrot and stick seems to be a harsh way of treating your kid but this theory works well.

Stuck for gift ideas, this father’s day why not see which celebrity dad your most like, to find out your ideal gift. Will it be funny man Ashton Kutcher or un-conventional parent Will Smith? What about movie hunks Mark Wahlberg or Channing Tatum or music moguls Kanye West or Jay Z? Take the fun quiz below from My Voucher Codes to see who you get!

I got Prince William, now although I don’t pretend to be king of my castle, I leave that to my partner, but I wouldn’t mind having the access to all that money and gold oh and one day ruling the UK! Okay so maybe some ideas of grandeur there, but the gift suggestions might just fit me to a tee. I’ve always fancied doing some outdoor pursuits such as clay pigeon shooting, it’s not something I have done before but always wanted to try!
At the moment the kids are at an age where I get usually a homemade gift such as a picture or papier-mâché bowl and a card, kindly made in school and then usually a little treat from my partner. So I think it will be a while before they are forking out for gifts like this!

Men have slowly but surely become more involved in everything related to raising a child and a modern day father will often be tasked with changing diapers and feeding or bathing their child on a regular basis.

Fatherhood has definitely evolved and yet there is one phenomenon that many still think is exclusive to a pregnant mother, which is the urge to “nest” when the delivery date draws closer.

It now seems that expectant fathers are also prone to this behavior pattern when fatherhood is close to becoming a reality. Daddy nesting can take various forms. It might be that that they clear the yard in preparation, or they might decide to order some new seat covers from Shear Comfort for example, so that the family car is comfortable and ready for the new arrival.

Mothers it seems are not alone in getting that urge to build a nest as it were, so here is a look at the phenomenon of daddy nesting.

Keeping their precious cargo safe

A prime example of daddy nesting is to choose a safe family car or to review the current safety features in their existing vehicle.

A common theme amongst nesting fathers is to decide that now is a good time to review their transportation needs. A sporty model simply doesn’t seem right it seems, once fatherhood approaches, drawing expectant fathers to a family wagon like never before.

Becoming a parent changes your sense of responsibility and dads-to-be realize that they need a car that will accommodate a car seat and give them enough space for all the bits and pieces they will be carrying around when traveling with a baby on board in the future.

Nesting habits around the house

The nesting urge can strike fathers in all sorts of different ways and some of them might seem trivial, but in the eyes of an expectant daddy, they matter.

Although a baby will not be wandering around the house or the garage for some time to come, a pending arrival tends to focus the dad’s mind on how to make sure their tools and equipment are safely stored and maybe get rid of any items that are no longer required, if their man-cave is going to become family friendly.

If you are a father awaiting the birth of your first child, you may also find yourself staring at everyday objects like the garbage can, and wondering whether you need to get a bigger one that will cope with extra waste like diapers.

All in the hormones

Many of us understand that pregnant women will be heavily influenced by their hormones at certain times throughout their pregnancy, which is perfectly logical when you consider that a mother’s estrogen and progesterone levels can be up to three times their normal level with a baby on board, but dad’s hormones also get affected.

It seems that certain pheromones emanate from the mother’s sweat glands, causing the fathers testosterone levels to drop and his prolactin hormone to rise, which stimulates his paternal instincts.

This means that if you are anxiously awaiting the birth of your child, your body is taken over by the same sort of instincts that expectant mothers feel and you are being mentally prepared for the excitement and responsibilities of parenthood.

Time for construction

If you are a nervous father-to-be waiting for the big day, your nest building instincts will almost certainly fill you with an irresistible urge to start building what you need for the new baby.

Building the cot and putting up those extra shelves will be something you positively want to do, as your nesting instincts take hold.

Lewis Hutchinson is a new Dad who works as a life coach. Having a newborn in his life has changed his outlook on some things, and he is taking his first-hand experiences into consideration when coaching others, particularly men on the road to Fatherhood.