A Montana Family Adventure Vacation Will Benefit Your Family

A Summer Family Adventure Vacation - What is in it for you?

Where do you plan to spend your next vacation? Will your next family vacation build family relationships and strengthen your communication? A Montana family adventure vacation may be the best decision you could make!

Since the mid 1950's, many families have spent their summer vacation standing in line and rushing from ride to ride. After all, every child dreams of visiting Disneyland. At least that is what the commercials say.

Countless families this summer will bypass their National Park rushing to an Amusement Park. However, studies suggest this is a bad decision both for the children's and the family's overall health.

The family, an integral and foundational part of society, is disintegrating. Why? Obviously our lifestyles play a key role. Recent studies have shown a striking correlation between strong, successful families and time spent recreating in nature together. In fact, ‘nature therapy' has been so effective, adventure activities are now included in many treatment programs for dysfunctional families.

Adventure vacations build family relationships. Although they relax the mind and spirit, they also provide physical challenges. These add to the venture's overall bonding qualities. As families unite and enjoy the experience, their team spirit is increased and their family unit is enhanced.

Unfortunately today's families face bigger problems than the Amusement Park's strong media presence. Many modern children believe nature is the past; electronics are the future. They have bought the lie. A bogeyman lives in the woods. It is not safe to play outside. Too many children would agree with the fourth grader quoted in Last Child in the Woods who said, "I like to play indoors because that's where all the electrical outlets are."

Our contemporary lifestyles have aided and abetted this attitude. Many children are latchkey kids. They spend a lot of time inside, alone. When not locked in, they are busy with their own hectic schedules. Between school demands and outside interests, kids have little time to be kids. In addition, they often choose to spend their free time in some sort of virtual reality. This has increased childhood obesity, added numerous new ADHD cases, accelerated childhood depression, and escalated keyboard related stress injuries.

Certainly life's constant demands and frictions leave us feeling fractured. Family unity has suffered. Our children are often overwhelmed and misdirected. However, outdoor wilderness activities can help bring balance back into our lives.

Researchers are finding family unity is strengthened by time spent in an adventurous location. Children actually tend to respect their parents more as everyone unites in a common effort. And, while the thrills, challenges, and rewards inherent in an adventure vacation work to remove accumulated stress, nature's shear magnitude combined with our comparative smallness help us put our problems into the proper perspective. Our mental and physical well-being improves as we lay aside our fears, quiet our thoughts, and release our ever-present anxieties. Stress levels drop and creativity increases as nature's salve de-fragments our mind, body, and spirit.

Choosing an adventure vacation can have other long-term results. Instead of competing with the television, the shopping mall, the telephone, and the Internet, such an excursion encourages families to play together. This ‘isolation' can be an effective vehicle to bring families back together. Maybe even more important, time away from our usual routine often renews and reopens broken lines of communication.

Still not convinced? Consider this: studies show children who spend measurable time in nature are less likely to become school drop outs, more likely to earn above average scholarship awards, often display more responsible behavior, and are more ‘reachable' by the adults in their lives.

One final thought to ponder. When your children are the ones in leadership, how important will planet stewardship be? Unless nature is a part of their lives now, it will have no value then. When you think about it, with nature offering so many benefits, amusement parks become much less attractive. Maybe that is the perspective we need to re-cultivate.