Romantic Weekend for Parents

Parents almost always cite children for the number one reason they don’t travel as much as they would like. Children bring a level of stress, responsibility, and financial burden couples rarely fully anticipate. Becoming parents is an amazing gift but keeping your relationship strong needs to stay a priority. Carving out time, saving money, and lining up childcare are all factors in avoiding a romantic weekend for parents.

In this blog, I will help parents to eliminate the three most common obstacles kids create that prevent you from enjoying your romantic weekend for parents.

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Obstacle #1

Time

As a parent, you know that your kid’s schedule controls your life. When your child wakes up, when they get hungry, what time they have to be at school, and any activities they are enrolled in all dictate your day.

There’s an old saying, “We overestimate what we can accomplish in a day, but we underestimate what we can accomplish in a year.” You might notice during November and December it is very difficult to get together with friends. That is because their mind is overwhelmed with ‘all the things’ they have to do. Really the holidays only comprise of a couple of days out of the 61 days in November and December, but people glorify their busyness by saying they have too much going on.

Putting off your romantic weekend for parents is similar to avoiding extra activities during the holiday season. Sure there is stuff going on, there always is, but if you really look at your calendar you can carve out the time.

Find the Time

You might be thinking, this lady has no idea how busy I am, it’s insane at my house. I don’t doubt it for a second. But do me a favor, grab your calendar. I’ll wait. You just finished writing in all child number 1’s soccer practices and games; you’ve marked down all child number 2’s ballet practices and performances; every birthday and BBQ and bunco night is written in sparkly pen on your calendar.

Oh look at that, five weeks from now there is a bye weekend. Your bunco night is on Thursday night, but that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night are all clear. Monday night is soccer practice again but those three days on your calendar are empty. Or maybe you see a weekend three weeks from now that has a co-workers birthday party but nothing else. I promise there is a weekend on your calendar with either nothing or only low priority things.

Write down “Romantic Weekend for Parents” on those calendar squares. Those are the dates you will be spending quality time with your partner. Think of how much money you’ll save in the long run by not getting divorced. Keeping up your bond and connection with your partner can’t be a luxury, it has to a priority. 

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Resources to Help

Now that you have chosen your romantic weekend for parents dates, you have to pick a location. Clearly, with your busy schedule, you don’t have time to spend hours looking up prices to every dang city in the world. That’s ok, there are some awesome resources to help you pick a destination. When you have specific dates you want to travel but no location picked out, you can search on these sites:

• Skyscanner
• GoogleFlights
• WhereFor
• Skiplagged
• Adioso

If you need help using these resources be sure to check out my blog, No Destination in Mind Travel Search. Each of those travel resources is explained in detail.

Obstacle #2

Money

You totally agree that you need a romantic weekend for parents to get away from your crazy children. There is even a weekend you picked out from the last obstacle. But none of that matters if there are no extra funds to purchase a flight, pay for a hotel room, or feed yourself while you’re on the trip.

That is absolutely right. You do need money, but it’s less money than you might think. And even if you don’t have the money right now, you can still earn some extra money before the trip. I like to say, “Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.”

Your romantic weekend for parents is a priority. You can get passionate about a short term money producing gig.

Find the Money

Look around your house. Experts say there are over 300,000 objects in the average home. If we touched 1 item every second it would take us over 83 hours to touch every object in our home. You can earn thousands of dollars by having a money making garage sale.

Since you’re cleaning your house out for the garage sale anyway, you might as well learn how to rent your house out to travelers while you’re on your romantic weekend for parents. I created an entire e-course called the Homeowner Hustle that teaches homeowners how to begin renting their house for very little cost and tons of profit potential.

Another way to boost your vacation fund is to simply become an affiliate for the Homeowner Hustle e-course. What’s an affiliate? Well, that just means you write me a message saying you’d like me to create a personalized link for you to promote the Homeowner Hustle. Every time someone purchases the e-course using your link, you pocket 25%!

Resources to Help

There so many scams for getting rich quick online. Everyone wants you to pay a few dollars for an opportunity that will change your life. While I do think investing in yourself is super important, it is hard to know which things are real when it comes to the internet. Becoming an affiliate for my e-course doesn’t cost you any money and I’ll personally be there to support you with any questions potential purchasers may have.

Obstacle #3

Childcare

Now you have a romantic weekend for parents scheduled on your calendar and you’re in the process of earning funds to pay for your trip. Now you have to figure out what you will do with your precious children.

Sure there are lucky parents who have free options for overnight, multiple day childcare. Thank you, grandma and grandpa or auntie and uncle. Or maybe you are lucky enough to have an amazingly trustworthy friend that is happy to watch your kiddos while you enjoy a romantic weekend away.

But, many parents are not lucky enough to have options for handing off their kids and jetting off.

Find the Childcare

Sometimes you have to get creative when it comes to finding safe and reliable childcare during a romantic weekend for parents. One of my favorite options is to do a childcare swap. You may not be super close with all your child’s friends parents, but those people can be an invaluable resource.

When I’m asking for a favor I always like to do a favor first so the law of reciprocity will be on my side. Figure out some parents who have the same number of children as you and who you generally consider to be normal. Ask them if they would like a romantic weekend for parents while you watch their kids and in exchange, they can watch your kids on the exact weekend of your trip. Their kids can absolutely come with you to whatever activities you have going on the weekend you are the baby-sitters. And you’ve just scored yourself free childcare.

When all else fails there is always someone you can find who is willing to watch your kids for money. The trouble is, if you don’t already have a reliable babysitter it is hard to know who you can trust. Thank goodness for matching platforms with reviews from other parents about that babysitter.

Resources to Help

You can search through profiles for the perfect babysitter. Reviews are everything when it comes to choosing the right person. Read every review and only select the best of the best for an interview. Try out the babysitter several times before your romantic weekend for parents to ensure a good fit. The last thing you would want is to have their first shift be 72 hours and your kids have no clue who that person is.

• Care.com

While there are many obstacles for parents trying to take a weekend away from their children, as I have shown, where there is a will there is a way. Taking a trip requires planning, but the benefit of a healthy marriage is well worth the efforts. Keep your relationship strong by making the time, saving the money, and finding the childcare for the purpose of a romantic weekend with your partner.