The Benefits of Rural Vacations for Children

Holidays are a good time to travel and visit places, but also to return to our origins and allow us to enjoy a freer and more natural life.

When vacation time comes around, children jump up and down in excitement and parents wonder what on earth they’re going to fill their free time with. However, there are many options available to spend some great family time together. In this article, we’ll be focusing on rural vacations and explaining why it’s one of the best alternatives for your children.

The importance of vacations

Getting the chance to rest and disconnect during vacation has very beneficial effects on our health, both physically and emotionally. In these times that we live in, there’s so much pressure on children academically, and they’re expected to achieve so much. For that reason, it’s essential to give them back their ability to be children.

Vacation time is when children can spend time with their parents, reconnect with family and friends, be in touch with nature, or simply enjoy playing and time alone.

During the holidays, routines change and families carry out new and different activities. This helps children to develop their ability to adapt to changing situations.

In addition to that, it helps them to develop their tastes and their own personality. During vacation, they can experiment and decide which activities they like best and which they’re not too keen on.

Vacations generate a lot of excitement in children, so it’s a good idea to take the time to plan a fun family vacation.

What’s the best kind of vacation for children?

Given the diversity of vacations that we can choose from, it’s not surprising that parents often have difficulty deciding which would be best and most beneficial for their children.

It’s quite understandable that many parents want to give their children opportunities and experiences that they never had the chance to enjoy. They’ll try to plan trips to different countries with diverse cultures and languages. Their desire is to cultivate their children’s intelligence through city and town visits, or visits to places like museums.

However, although variety is the key, it’s important not to forget the great advantages of  traditional rural vacations.

Benefits of rural vacations

• Simple and relaxed life. In rural settings there’s no rush, no stress, and no overcrowding. There are no pre-set schedules or anything planned. Time can be spent on simple activities and can be organized according to how you feel at any given moment. Even doing nothing or taking a nice nap is healthy!
• Contact with nature. The natural surroundings help you to forget about traffic noise and pollution. Spending time in the countryside and breathing fresh air is really beneficial to health and helps us to feel better, and enables our bodies to release happiness hormones.
• Children are freer. Unlike cities and towns, rural environments are generally safe places for children to move around in more freely. Quite often your children will make friends and be able to spend time walking around the streets or country roads without the need for constant adult supervision. This helps children to develop their own personality.
• Healthier life habits. In rural settings, the food is more natural, the air is cleaner and the activities are healthier. It’s a setting that’s conducive to a physically active life, and helps a family to get away from their constant contact with technology and have more social interaction.

Other benefits of rural vacations

• Human warmth. Anonymity is practically non-existent. In rural towns everyone knows you, greets you, and stops to chat with you. People are generally more willing to help their neighbors in different ways. In many ways they can be like a big family that you know you can always count on if you need them.
• Space to play. Children in rural villages keep themselves entertained with a great variety of activities, and in many different ways. In this way, they develop their creativity, their interests and their problem-solving abilities.
• Sense of familiarity. Spending the summer or vacation time in the same area creates a regularity that children really appreciate. Returning to familiar places makes them feel safe and allows them to develop bonds of friendship that will remain with them for many years to come.

So, when are you planning your next rural vacation?