Teach Your Children Well… A Family Volunteer Vacation

Such eye-opening and soulful experiences are key.  But so are a nice hotel and a worthy nonprofit cause that actually makes a difference.  Often, someone in the family is eager to get “off the beaten path” and see how others live. But someone else in the family really needs a nice bed and air-conditioning to de-stress.  Some of the family members who have researched the rampant problems in voluntourism know that many volunteer vacations support causes that are dubious at best.  Often, family vacations occur only once a year, so you have to have something for everyone.  Right now you really have the choice of a nice hotel or a deep travel experience, but not both.

BeachCorps is going to change that.  This summer of 2018, we will give away a free “Teach Your Children” volunteer vacation excursion for anyone in the Punta Cana area.  We want to give families the option of getting away, relaxing, spending time on the beach, having Mom and Dad leave the kids in the hotel room with a sitter for a night of dinner and dancing under the stars.  But we also want to give the parents the opportunity to turn their family vacation into an educational opportunity for their children, to open up new worlds.   To Travel Deep.

We believe that a family vacation with the BeachCorps model will be GREAT for families with kids of all different ages.  Depending on the country and the kind of activity and the area visited, family volunteer vacations can be safe for all kinds of families, even those with small children.   A child basically should be old enough to listen to instructions and not require a leash to avoid wandering off.   There are tons of activities that are great for kids, easy and educational, from giving the gift of English to children to improve their future job prospects, to putting on a bi-cultural musical for a great nonprofit cause, to working with locals to pick up litter on a beach.

Even older millennial children are HUGE fans of volunteer vacations, so families of many generations can take part.  But returning to the idea of non-adult children, here are the general benefits of a volunteer vacation for families, particularly with the BeachCorps model.

• Many kids in junior high and high school need community service hours, and volunteer vacations can provide those hours plus interesting experiences that can show colleges an applicant is engaged and committed.
• Families who volunteer in general tend to have closer relationships.
• Kids who come from privileged backgrounds tend to appreciate the gifts of their lives more when they see others with less.
• Cultural exchanges with people-to-people connections and create global citizens who think globally and act locally and are FAR less likely to ever intolerant of others not like them.
• Worthy nonprofit causes focus on empowerment, not begging, which helps show wealthy kids that anyone can overcome adversity with hard work and support from their community–so wealthy kids look down less on others who aren’t wealthy.  Wealthy kids who learn not to look down on the poor may see the hidden potential in the poor in their own homes and around the world, which is good for everyone. 

Another important trend are grandparents and parents traveling with their adult children or grand children.  Volunteering on vacation is a great cross-generational experience!

We are so confident that families are going to love our volunteer vacations that want to give away our impact travel services for free! BeachCorps is giving away our travel advisory services so you can pick your own hotel or sustainable lodging and just pay the excursion provider and a donation to a great cause.

So we’ll end with the lyrics of “Teach Your Children” and encourage all parents out there to “Feed your children on your Dreams.”  And we are sure that the kids will also teach the parents a thing or two along the way.

Teach Your Children by Crosby, Stills & Nash
You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good-bye.
Teach your children well,
Their father’s hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick, the one you’ll know by.

Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you.