You can’t tell, but that is a big smile behind that mask!

You also can’t tell that before this trip happened I was on the verge of spending hundreds of dollars for a trip to the mountains.

A few days before we ended up at this aquarium I had planned to do a two day trip to Asheville, NC. I thought to myself my daughter has never been there and she would love the clear blue skies, clean air, and beautiful mountains.

After calculating out the cost that trip was going to cost me $600 just for the hotel room. This is not counting the activities I had in mind.

Thanks to most of the hotels being sold out I changed course and went to an aquarium an hour away. She absolutely loved this aquarium that was inside an outlet mall. It wasn’t the size of a regular aquarium, but it was big enough for her. It had enough sea life for her to be completely amazed!

This entire situation help me understand one thing.

Kids are simple

As parents we want to give our children everything that we never had. We work extra hours and make elaborate plans in order to get a certain reaction out of our little ones. We do all of this not realizing that they really could do without all of it.

Here are three reasons why:

Limited Knowledge:

Our children don’t know what they don’t know. Since they have limited knowledge of the world we don’t have to go overboard with spending a lot of money to take them to a faraway island. I almost made this mistake with the mountain trip. She had a blast at the aquarium and said it was the best day ever! Best day ever and it only cost me $40!

Give Them Control:

Have you ever planned all of these activities for your children and when everything is over the look on their face is blah? That is because more than likely you planned activities that you wanted to do and thought they would enjoy too instead of asking their opinion. Next time let your child plan the day and the activities. This will help with their planning and decision skills. As a bonus they will be extremely happy after everything is over because they planned it!

They Just Want You

When it is all said and done your children has the most fun when they are hanging with you. Instead of an expensive vacation take them to a local park or museum to explore. While spending time with your children put your phone away and completely focus on them. Your focus and attention is worth way more than any money you spend on them. This is something I am actively working on right now. Just remember that children are really simple and you don’t have to spend a lot of money just to put a smile on their face.

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