Explore everything from the evolution of the universe to 85 million-year-old dinosaur skeletons at exhibits offered at these natural history museums around the globe. When the older kids refuse to step foot in a children’s museum and the younger ones will be bored to tears in an art museum, usually a happy medium is a natural history museum. Everyone in the family can surely … [Read more...]

Celebrate your birthday girl’s Sweet 16 on a mini-vacation with family and friends. Some teens are sour on traditional Sweet 16 parties—with their elaborate chocolate fondue fountains and personality-plus disc jockeys—opting instead to gather a few friends for a Sweet 16 getaway at a fabulous resort or cool destination. City getaways have long been popular for such … [Read more...]

Keep London cool for your teens or pre-teens on your family vacation. Take your pre-teens and teens to one of the most historical cities in the world and ... well, you might get more yawns than ‘yays!’ Want to avoid the apathy? Here are five places to add to your itinerary to keep kids engaged. 1) Put them in the stocks. The London Dungeon is far and away the favorite … [Read more...]

As a veteran surf bum, I know in my heart that our sport is best learned over a (very) long sabbatical spent at a sleepy tropical beach. But if real-life responsibilities prevent the whole family from going on extended surfari, kids and adults can still get acquainted with the sport through the next-best thing: surf camps, which offer immersion in the surfing lifestyle for days … [Read more...]

Recommended destinations for parents whose teens would rather be grounded than go on a vacation with the family. Parents of hard-to-please, moody teens take heart. There really are family-friendly resorts and cruises where mom and dad can co-exist with their independence-craving, alternative-minded, sports-crazed kids. As the mother of a teenage boy, I have crash-tested several … [Read more...]