Great Wolf Lodge recently commissioned a survey of a thousand working dads, 61 percent of whom said they “handle all or most of the family vacation planning.”
The freakishly-long infographic at right highlights the survey findings and ends by asking “Is Dad in charge of planning YOUR family vacation? Or does he just think he is?” This impish question is no doubt meant to provoke good-natured debate between the sexes about who REALLY plans the trip, but I already think I have the answer:
So what?
See, I equate trip planning with making a Thanksgiving turkey: Seems hard, isn’t. But once you make your first turkey, you do nothing to dispel the myth that it’s hard, spending the rest of your Thanksgivings hiding in the kitchen with a turkey baster in one hand and a beer in the other, making the rest of the family sweat the details of doing…well, everything else.
Planning a trip does take research, creativity, and a little time. But it’s not nearly as time-consuming or challenging as it used to be. And let’s face it, any mouth breather with an Internet connection and a budget-tracking app can book air tickets and cap spending.
The question we should be asking is not who does the vacation planning, but who does everything else? Who packs and repacks? Who keeps the kids organized in the car, at the airport, on the plane? Who’s the field marshal in the destination sweating all the details, showering the sand off the kids and reapplying their suntan lotion, grilling the waiters about food allergies, serving as chief morale officer to ensure everyone else is okay?
Is that you, working dad, even part of the time?
If it is, that’s good, because that means you're doing some of the real work involved in making your family’s vacation successful.
Do you agree that vacation planning is just one piece of the puzzle? How do you and your significant other split responsibilities on a family vacation? Do you two argue about whether you're pulling your weight on vacation? Vice versa? Leave a comment below and then join a gathering of Traveling Moms and Dads for a robust #TMOM Twitter party from 9-10pm on June 10 when we launch a battle of the sexes: Moms vs. Dads on Family Vacation. RSVP for the #TMOM Twitter Party to be eligible to win a Home Depot gift card.
Not incidentally, my colleague Ciindy Richards over at Traveling Mom also questions the Great Wolf Lodge survey in her post Who Plans Your Family Vacation?
P.S. If you've never attended a Twitter party, it's pretty fast and furious. A program like HootSuite will permit you to easily monitor the Tweets, which in this case, will all have the hashtag #TMOM. Should you miss the party, you can always search the #TMOM tag afterwards. But you know what? Don't miss it. Tune in at 9pm Monday and buckle up...
