What Does Taking Vacation Mean to You?

But you have two young kids and work full time. How can you not automatically take as much time off as possible to be with them? Just go to the park. I work also and feel I owe it to my kids to be with them as much as possible. So if you don't have to work, that means its possible for you to be with them. It may not be a "vacation" like sitting on the beach reading and being waited on but it's time to spend being their mother.

You can use the time to just recharge, or get together with family. My aunt loves the state fair so she takes the fair week off every year and goes as many times as she can. We're going with her the opening weekend this year, after 3 years not getting to go.

I also do not like to take time off, but I hate having unused days at the end of the year that go away. I end up taking them randomly for a long weekend to visit family, or a couple of extra days off at Christmas or Thanksgiving, or this summer we're taking a few days to go to Branson and alternatively go to Silver Dollar City and veg out in condo. We save up a couple hundred bucks a month and use it for vacation and whatever's left over goes either in next year's vacation fund, or the Christmas fund.

My husband gets way more vacation days than I do and he uses them to take extra long weekends each month. Although he's saving some of it to take a couple of weeks off if we have a baby next year, his vacation days carry over from year to year.

I only work part time, but I take "vacation" days in the summer. Usually it means taking one or two days off so I can take an extended weekend at the beach. I also take days off so I can do all day outings to museums, waterparks, amusement parks etc. I never take big, long far away vacations, to me it is just important to be spending time with the kids relaxing and having fun as much as I possibly can.

I am like you.. I give 150% to my work.. I was the employee of the year a few times. , I won sales contests.. etc.. While I am there. I love being successful, I love helping people, working as a team.. I find it exciting and satisfying.

Once I decided to have a child.. I changed my priorities. I still worked hard, I still worked the entire time I was there, but I made it clear, unless the building was on fire, our jobs are never more important than our time with family.

Here is what I have learned after all of these years.
EVERYONE/ ANYONE can be replaced. A person can die today and tomorrow, there can be someone who slips into the job and also be successful.

It is a true blessing to be able to make money doing what you love.

BUT, You are the only mother your girls will ever have. Your attention when you are with them is completely important. No one will have as much of a influence then you. You shape their self worth , their self esteem, their goals. You want them to be independent, you give them your time and tell them they are capable, important, smart, clever they are.

The time you devote to them is precious and it is fleeting.

Taking time off and ending your work day shows that you have boundaries and that your girls are always going to be your top priority.

Time with your family is never wasted. Even if it means sleeping in and having the girls crawl into bed and lay there looking at books together. Working in the yard together.

Going to the store and spending that time, playing I spy while searching for groceries. Letting them make up the grocery list in their own writing or drawing.

Going to a new park in town they have never visited..
Stay in a cheap hotel or motel.

You could all go to Granbury to see a drive in movie at the Brazos Drive in. http://www.thebrazos.com/home.htm

Visit the Dinasour Valley State Park in Glen Rose Texas take a hike. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g55902-d1036...

Go to the Ft. Worth Zoo. Take a cooler for a picnic.

Take the girls ice skating.

You need to show them that you WANT to spend time with them and they are worth the time off. Even if it is just staying in your own town.. they are way more fun than work. They will energize you They will awe you.. Then they will inspire you while you have to work.

Our daughter is now 22.. I have no regrets about the time I was privileged to spend with her. But boy it goes faster and faster as they get older and school takes over their lives.

Sad that work is your priority and you can't see the need to take off time fir yourself and/or your family. When you're on your death bed, you aren't going to wish you worked more. You will wish you had memories of fun times with your family. Thisay seem harsh, but it's true. You don't have to take long expensive trips. You just take time off and spend it with those you love. I hope you can see how much more important that is than working. Good luck.

It means that I don't do dishes, laundry, meals. I can sleep in and someone else cleans up for a few days. I can walk down to the ocean and put my toes in the surf and enjoy the sound of waves pounding on the shore and smell the salt air on the breeze. I can pick up a meal or a snack on the boardwalk or such and casually stroll along worrying about nothing.

You need to learn that you are expendable. A company can/could fire you and where would you be? Nowhere. People who are plugged in all the time seem to be afraid that they can't unwind and just enjoy doing nothing. They feel they have to be a slave to the company. You better start planning how to be your own person and take that time.

I have time that I need to take and will so that I don't lose it. I keep the extra time in case my husband goes back into the hospital. Otherwise I would be on the cruse from somewhere to nowhere in a heart beat.

You owe your children quality time and focus on them exclusively since you work. They will remember the times that mommy did x y z with them and not hear the sad tone in their voice that mom was too busy to be with them. That will break your heart. Keep up the work and your family will be gone. Find the song "Cat in the Cradle" by Cat Stevens and listen to it really carefully and get the message.

the other S.

PS My husband is learning a valuable lesson based on that song.

I don't believe in wasting vacation time - the use it or lose it policy drives me crazy. If you have days that you have to take or you lose them all together, I would absolutely 100% take them every single year.

As much as you love your job, and as much as you feel needed there, you also should take some time just to rejuvenate and refresh yourself, even if that means relaxing at home. Go to lunch with friends you don't see often - or cook them lunch at home if you want to save money. Run errands, read a good book, volunteer in your kids' school, clean the house, whatever. But if they are going to pay you to stay away from the office, do it.

Being a workaholic isn't good. There needs to be more in your life. Find out what that "more" means to you and go do it. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Cautionary tale: my husband used to work very hard at a company where he felt he just couldn't take the time off. Long story short: the company went under and he lost over $9,000 in PTO.

(we) He will never make that mistake again. You NEED to take those moments to spend with your family, not distracted by work. It's not just about what you want, it's what your family needs. I say this as the spouse of the breadwinner-- it's important to go someplace where the quotidian chores are not hollering at you. Down time. My husband *learned* from his experience that jobs are not forever, but family is. This summer we found a very rustic (read, no frills) and inexpensive beach rental and will go low-frills to enjoy it. Maybe one or two meals out, lots of beachcombing, sandcastle-building and down time for all of us.

I know you love your work, but do think about your family. They love YOU. They need you to be with them, to make memories. The 'stuff' will wait, trust me. I was very resentful for years before my husband's old company went out of business-- I was always a distant second because some stranger needed my husband's time more than I did, supposedly. Don't find reasons not to spend time with your family. Even if you are at home, you CAN find ways to have fun. Explore your town. Find out what's fun for your kids. You ARE being useful-- you are spending time with your children. Believe me, they will remember that. It's not useless--it's an investment in your future relationship with your kids. Will they remember "mom was always busy" or will they remember "mom had a demanding job, but she made sure to make time for us"? Investing in your kids is certainly NOT wasteful-- quite to the contrary. It's incredibly valuable.

Take the time, you can never have it back. Use your vacation days for day trips, save on a hotel, do things and explore what you normally don't have time for. Try and relax, the world will still be there.

One of the saddest things I know of happened to friends of our family, they scrimped and saved for a fantastic vacation to Europe, never wanting to spend any money or time on anything else, and were unable to have children so weren't taking memories or experiences from them. They were killed in a head-on crash with a drunk driver on the way home from booking their trip. We all felt so bad for the experiences they never had.

Take some time, life is too short not to. Spend the day at the movies, a museum, seeing friends, something to rejuvenate you, a day here and there. I don't necessarily think one needs to go out of town, though it's nice. Don't look at it as wasting time, but rather as investing time in your well-being.

Your post strikes me as very sad. You have little girls and you're not sure if you should take your PAID vacation leave? No where in your post do you mention spending time with them.

Maybe a week with Mom off work all day would be a great "vacation" for all of you. I arranged my whole life to be able to stay home with my girls and work from home. Being there for them and with them has been the most rewarding job I'll ever have. It's not for everyone and it sounds like you really enjoy your job outside the home which is great. I guess I'm confused as to why you wouldn't want to just take some time off to be with your family. Trust me, they won't be little much longer!

While I completely understand where you are coming from (I was like that
"b.k." before kids), now my tune has changed.
Nobody on their deathbed says "You know, I should have worked more."
No instead they say "I thould have spent more time with my kids.", "I
should have gone more places, seen more things, had more fun etc.".
You can take a couple of days off & go to a nearby town, stay in a hotel,
let the kids swim in the pool, have lunch & dinner cooked/served to you
by somebody else so you don't have to cook every single day.
-See what's in a nearby town for an attraction & stay over.
-The whole point is to get away from work, from housecleaning, to spend
"down time" with your family.
-Life is fleeting, time goes by quickly.
-Don't work so hard you drop dead of a heart attack the day after retirement like my family member.
-Take time to slow down a bit & really enjoy your life w/your family.
-One day they will be grown w/their own things to do, their own families.
-Stop and enjoy all things in life along the way.
-Savor every moment.
Live so you have no regrets when you get older!

I am absolutely amazed that there is even a question in your mind! Even if you don't go anywhere or do anything, you are getting PAID while you are NOT working! There is no way I'd let any vacation days lapse barring some major emergency at work (I'm talking MAJOR).

Don't you have any projects you've ever wanted to tackle at home?

I currently homeschool, and am home all the time, and even I would love a stretch of days to tackle some big projects in our family life. Even when I did work I would not let vacation days slip out of my grasp very easily. And I was in an extremely demanding profession.

Have you read "7 Habits of Highly Effective People"? Read up on the concept of "sharpen the saw." That's what vacations do for you. You will be even more effective at work.

JMO.

I used to let my boss treat my vacation as if I was on an extended bathroom break. It wasn't until I stopped working that I wondered why I allowed myself to spend half of my vacation working on the phone. I left DISNEY to come back early one time. When I look back on that, I think that my boss was really terribly spoiled and I was a doormat...

I did take some time off to get personal stuff done that I didn't have the wherewithal to do while I was working long hours. Not as satisfying as taking a real break like vacation, but I felt a ton better getting stuff done, things reorganized that needed it, and my house straightened out.

Of course, this was before kids. Once I had kids, vacation was real work and I didn't have time to be on the phone fixing my boss's problems or working with clients while I was dealing with my kids. It was kind of good for my boss to have to learn that lesson too.

Now as a SAHM, vacations are between running around doing fun stuff and just doing NOTHING at the pool or at the beach. My vacation this week has been bliss at the beach. Though we thought we'd zipline, go kayaking, etc, instead, we've been at the beach and the pool everyday and gone to 3 movies at night. Sometimes kicking back is so good for your mental health, and great for recharging your batteries.

I look back and wish I had understood that when I was working. Maybe you'll look back one day and feel the same as me.

Well, I just looked at your "a little about me" - seems a little contradictory to your question. How can you not want to spend time with your precious little girls? You could take one or two days off at a time; you don't need to use it all at once - stretch it out.

Even if you don't want to spend a lot of money right now, can't you stay close to home (stay-cation they're calling it now) and do stuff with them? Zoo? Parks? Water park? Carnivals? County Fairs? Explore your city? Courthouse - they usually give tours. Library - story time, etc. Museums? Put up a tent and camp out in the yard! The list is endless!!!

Good luck!!

Find a hobby that you are passionate about. It will enrich your life in ways you can't imagine. Take a class in something that interest you. Plan day trips. Make a day of going to the theatre or even breakfast and a matinee Whatever you do, do not let those days go to waste. You earned them!

Of course "getting away" is always nice, but what about just taking a break from work and doing some things you don't usually have time for? I'm a long time SAHM and I rarely sit around "doing nothing." If I have extra time I take advantage of it, I make lunch dates with friends, or READ, or work on any number of things around the house.
My working mom friends use a lot of vacation days just taking care of business and spending extra time with their kids, for example:
-doctor, dentist and vet appointments
-car maintenance and repairs
-attending school parties, field trips or volunteering for special events
-taking the kids out of school for their birthdays and having a whole day together
-shopping for big ticket items (new car? washer/dryer? stuff like that)
My BFF and her husband use some of their vacation days as "date" days, they take time off together to accomplish household projects/improvements and also to just hang out, going to breakfast or lunch, the movies, a trip to Costco with no kids.
I can't believe you really can't think of anything to do five days a week, all year long, but work! Even when you love your job (which is awesome) you still, I hope, have a home, friends and family who would love a little extra time and attention as well.

i totally agree.
i LOVE my farm, and my husband and i are so very happy living here. but staycations mean that we both are thinking about all the stuff that constantly needs to be done around here. in order to truly take a deep breath, and let it go, and relax, and get mentally and spiritually refreshed, we have to go somewhere else.
and we get to return to a place we love.
even if the getting away is as simple as camping a few hours away, we make a point of doing it regularly.
ETA i do NOT agree that if you don't go somewhere, it's wasted time. while a true relaxed vacation involves (for me) getting away, just being a worker bee and letting that accrued time slip away is a crime. staycations are not as good as getaways, but they're way better than nothing! take the time off and spend it with your kids.
khairete
S.

Take a week off and enjoy your family.
Before you know it, your kids will be gone to college and you will be wondering where the time went.
We don't take vacations. We use our vacation time to spend with our kids. We got to band camp as chaperones and cooks, we go to competitions, we go on field trips, we take them to their camps, we are with them.
We also take time to just be at home, get chores done, play games, cook out, swim, and enjoy each other's company.
Not time with family is ever a waste. Spending more than 40 hours at work, always thinking about work, and working at home after hours is a HUGE waste of your family time.

To me, a vacation is not cooking, doing dishes, cleaning in general, etc.
So staying somewhere where the maid makes the bed, cleans the bathroom and puts out fresh towels is wonderful!
And I like to be waited on - so sit down restaurants are great!
So, camping, renting a house/cabin, etc might be nice, but I'd just be doing the same old cooking/cleaning as I do at home - so it's not an ideal break for me.
It doesn't have to be fancy.
I don't have to be running around all day to amusement parks or spending a lot of money.
Walking on a beach or swimming in a lake is fine.

Take the time. My workaholic husband always enjoys going once we're there. If you're not going anywhere, make a list of things you'd love to do but haven't had the time. Maybe it's just reading some great books, visiting with friends or just getting things done around the house.

I totally get it that it's not really a vacation without going somewhere. However, they've done studies and workers are far more productive if they take their vacation time. That's why companies encourage employees to take time off. It's not out of the kindness of their hearts.

We all have different ideas of vacation time. To me, it's not a vacation if the kids are with us. Right now, that still means I'm on mom duty and don't really get a break or the chance to sleep in. When they're older it might mean it's a real vacation when we go somewhere as a family, but it's not relaxing right now. A real vacation right now is just me and my husband away on our own. However, I still take time off from work so we can go places as a family because it's just good to have a change of pace and break from work periodically.

I'm sure it's been said already, but why do you seeing stay home with your kids for a week or two as "doing nothing"? Think about how much your kids would love to have mom home, and if you are from Dallas there is tons to take them to do there that would be fun and affordable. It makes me sad that you'd rather work then get paid to hang out with the kids you decided to have. It sounds like you need a real priority check here, mom.

Please, take the paid vacation time and spend it with your two young girls. You don't have to go somewhere in order to have a nice, relaxing, recharging time. How much time have you really spent with your young daughters, doing stuff with them? Do they live with a nanny, who is the one who gets to experience everything with them? Don't you miss that? You can capture some of those same experiences if you actually spend some time with them.

I'm assuming the anniversary trip next year means you and your husband--sans children? If so, then I would make it a priority this year to spend as much time with your daughters as possible, making memories they--and you--will always cherish.

As others have said, there is no way I would ever let any of my hard-earned vacation days slip away. You worked for them. You should use and enjoy them.

For me, that means spending time with my husband and daughter. I decided to get married. I decided to have a child. Therefore, I decided to have a family. It's not all about ME and my life and my work and my wants. There are OTHER PEOPLE in my life that I have to think about. I made that conscious choice--to have a family. Therefore, taking time to spend with them is of upmost importance to me.

Everyone needs to take time and recharge. Being a hyper Type A person and on the go-go-go all the time and never taking any time off for either yourself to de-stress or to bond with your family isn't a good idea. If you don't find a way to balance your home life with your work life, you just might start finding yourself sick--heart attacks, strokes, adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue, migraines, or whatever else your body will use that will either shake and wake you up, showing you that you need to reevaluate and relearn how to live so that you're managing your work-family-personal life in a better manner, OR maybe you just might find yourself one day being so sick, you're totally and unable to work. Then where would you be? Unable to do what you really love to do--work.

You need to find some sort of balance in your work--personal--family life so that doesn't happen.

I'm reminded of when I was younger and worked in a small investigations firm. I was the office manager/financial person and was very involved in running the office--I was the only person doing any of the admin work. It was stressful and demanding and I loved it! But every year, in December, I would get horribly, horribly sick and would miss at least an entire week of work. It was the worst time of the year to be gone, because that was when we billed out our biggest billing period and closed out the year's financials. This went on for 5 years. Every. Single. Year. I got this sick. And I was frantic and totally dedicated to my job and always fretting, always fretting.

One day, my father asked me why I was acting the way I was. He said, did I own the company? I looked at him and said, no. He said, if you were hit by a bus tomorrow, what would they do? I just looked at him. He said, they'd find somebody else to do your job. You don't own the company, and you are expendable/replaceable. There is absolutely NO REASON to be beating yourself up, killing yourself, for the job. You don't own it, if the company tanked--you wouldn't lose your shirt, you'd go and find another job. And if you were to die tomorrow--they'd find somebody else to take your place.

Put your job into the perspective it needs to be in. There are other things in life than working. You have two precious little ones at home who would like their mommy to spend more time with them.

I suggest you do so.

No Dishes,no cooking,cleaning.I visit family half way across the country with my 2 yr old daughter and my husband for about 1 to 2 weeks.In fact we leave in a few days.
We go to my moms house and yea.Just go to the beach and hang out.You have a 5 yr old and 2 yr old girls.Well I am that kind of person who waits till my kids are about 9 or 10 or at least have an older sibling that is at least 16.
Why dont you hire a babysitter and go out to dinner.Your girls are way to young to be left alone.Your girls will really miss you.

We don't take the big drag-yourself-around-for-two-weeks bonanza type vacations. But we do things all year round. It is absurdly expensive to take a family of 5 on a big go somewhere for 2 weeks kind of vacation and then it's a bit of a let down when you have nothing else to do the rest of the year to get a break from the day to day monotony.
Instead of spending money for a family of 5 on air fare and hotels and 3 meals a day out we do things like get annual passes for the family for Disneyland. We do day trips up in the morning and come home at the end of the night. Our big "once a year blow out" is we go to the San Diego Comic Book Convention. We live local so we just go home each night so we don't have to add the cost of hotels and all of our meals, just dinner and sometimes lunch though sometimes we'll make our own lunches and put them in a cooler in the car.
We do other things that are no more than a day trip. We'll head up to LA for something for the day for instance.
Sometimes we'll just use the time to stay at home, not do any work and watch movies or something.
My husband holds on to PTO as much as possible. We've had numerous emergencies over the years where we end up being grateful to have it on the books. Though he uses a couple days for the SD Comic-Con. But we still make time to enjoy fun things with the family on the weekends, holidays or the occasional work day that he gets "compted" after a rough project that finally gets done (doesn't happen often but we take advantage of it when it does! LOL)

Take the time, you have earned it and it sounds like you deserved all that time.....

I don't know if your company is anything like mine was, but if they allow it, schedule the time off for a series of long weekends. That what I did with some of my vacation and it was great. If you have to take a block of it at one time, use that time to just recuperate. Read a good novel, get a pedicure, stay in your pj's for a day.

The reason vacation is offered is so employees don't get burned out. You're happy now, but if you don't take some time for yourself away from the office, you won't always be happy.

Same stuff, different location. :)

I'm a momma, I don't get a vacation.

One summer we went south to the beach, rented a beach house and everything. I ended up doing the same things everyday that I do at home. Only change, there was sand EVERYWHERE! I cooked, I cleaned, I did laundry and had the added stress of trying to keep my toddler out of the Gulf. It was what it was. I would do it again!

Don't get me wrong I love my kids and my husband, but the only way I'd actually achieve "vacation" status is to leave them all at home and go alone.

I'm going on vacation this week and I have work packed to take with me :(

We have done a staycation in Dallas before. We got a room for one night in FT worth and spent time at the zoo, stockyards, and museums. There was an indoor pool so the kids for to swim, we took time off work and did fun stuff as a family that we wouldn't normally go do on a weekend. Book a weekend at great wolf or Gaylord and have fun with the kids.

I've taken vacation time when I couldn't afford to go anywhere, and used the time to work on home projects, or just to lie in the sun in my backyard with a good book and a cold beer.

Take a staycation.

You're a workaholic so make plans ahead of time. Play tourist in your own town and in neighboring towns. Create a schedule of things you want to do. Invite friends to do some things with you. Plan to take your kids on other trips. Work on your relationships. Give yourself a day off in the middle of your time off and go to a spa or at least get your hair and nails done.

You don't have to sit at home to make it a vacation. If you are a type A workaholic, take a type A vacation. Take a cooking class,or learn a sport. Ask your Dh and kids what they've always wanted to do and find a location to do it in your own city. Buy a guidebook and check things off as you do them if that makes you feel like you are accomplishing something.

You could take the time to go on an extended camping trip once the days cool off a little, if you are into that. Heck, have a backyard camping 'trip' with your kids! Make a big deal out of cooking everything outside (you can get a fire pit for $40 at Walmart, if you don't have a safe place, and use charcoal if you can't get any wood...) make s'mores, sleep in a tent... Drive into the mountains (or a park if there isn't something convenient) during the day and take a hike or nature walk, go fishing, etc. You could also get some wooden dowels and long metal spikes, and let them make/decorate their own custom hot dog stick.

Or, you could use the opportunity to get some work done around the house. I'm sure there are a few chores that only get done rarely... power wash the outside of the house, clean out the gutters, wash all the light fixtures and ceiling fans, etc. It's certainly not wasteful to spend a little extra time giving your home some TLC.

Either way, if they are going to pay (I'm assuming you get paid vacations...If not, I probably wouldn't take it either. lol.) you to stay home and do nothing, that is a benefit that you have EARNED from them... it's not wasteful. It's YOUR time to do with what you want.

vacation = time off from the workplace.

vacation = time spent for & with yourself

vacation = time spent within the warm embrace of your home &/or traveling....with or without your family

vacation = for me is taking Monday off to do legal/financial chores. :)