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Would your child like to go on vacation alone for the first time? It’s a big step. You need to start by discussing the financial aspects.
Can you still remember your first vacation without your parents? Those were the days! Now your child is about to enjoy this unique experience for themselves. It’s very exciting, but also raises questions: who will pay for the trip and how much money is available?
Perhaps you’ve traveled quite often together as a family – to Ticino, to Thailand or closer to home. It’s important that your child understands that vacations are not a matter of course, but always depend on your financial resources. Before their first solo vacation, talk to your child about their expectations and discuss how the vacation should be financed and by whom.
Vacations – especially first vacations – are a great learning experience for children. This is how they realize that vacations are also linked to finances.
If your child is already in an apprenticeship or is earning their first wage elsewhere, for example from a vacation or part-time job, then they may already have their own budget plan. In this case, the vacation should already be a part of their budget and they should be saving toward it each month. If they don’t have a budget, vacation money often has to come out of their savings. Â
The situation is similar if your child receives a youth wage. Ideally, you should have discussed vacations when introducing the youth wage and included the cost in your child’s initial budget. Otherwise, you can catch up now. Point out to your child that money from a vacation job or financial gifts at Christmas can also be used for vacations. Â
What if your child doesn’t have any money from an apprenticeship wage, youth wage, pocket money or money from a part-time or vacation job, but you nevertheless trust your child to travel alone?Â
Now is a good time to decide as a family whether your child should be given more responsibility for dealing with money. Determine the annual budget for your child’s vacations and hobbies, and establish whether and how much you can and want to contribute. Â
Is your child not taking part in the family vacation because they are going on their own vacation with friends? If so, you can consider making a partial contribution, at least to match the expenses that would have been incurred if they had come on the joint family vacation. Whatever the situation, you don’t have to cover all the costs for your child. In order to promote personal responsibility and financial skills, it may make sense for your child to finance some of the costs themselves.
Vacations, and in particular the planning of vacations, can also be used for financial education. The extent to which vacations serve as a learning opportunity depends heavily on your child’s knowledge: have they already developed an awareness of what things cost and do they realize that money is not infinitely available?
As parents, you can start by drawing up a vacation budget with your teenager. Go through the vacation plan and check the costs that will be incurred, for example for accommodation, meals, activities and spontaneous expenses. Discuss whether the plan is realistic with the available budget and explain why it might not be possible to stretch to a helicopter flight.
It’s not just your child’s first vacation that represents a good learning opportunity. You can also use family vacation planning to strengthen your child’s financial literacy. Involve your child in the budget planning for your family vacation at an early age.
Allowing children to actively participate in drawing up a vacation budget promotes their independence and gives them a better understanding of financial responsibility at the same time.
Discuss which activities should be part of the family budget and which extras the child should pay for themselves. It should be up to the child to decide how much of their money they want to spend on souvenirs or ice cream, for example.
Family vacations abroad are an ideal learning opportunity for your child, as they will naturally come into contact with different currencies, prices and means of payment.
Shopping at the local supermarket or eating out at a restaurant is a good opportunity to talk about what things cost in your vacation destination compared to your home country. Why does pizza cost less on vacation? Why is sunscreen more expensive? Things like VAT and tipping also work differently in other countries. And what is the most common method of payment – cash or card? This makes it easier for your child to understand that there may be differences in costs of living and wage levels abroad.
There are various ways to travel cheaply and get from A to B. Ultimately, however, the safety of your child takes priority. For example, it may sometimes be better for them to take a cab back to their accommodation in the evening instead of walking, even if it costs a little more. Talk to your child about their exact vacation plans and define the basic conditions with safety issues in mind. This also includes explaining what to do in a financial emergency, for example if your child loses their wallet and bank card. Make your child aware of the various risks and give them tips on how they can reduce them.
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