vacation – Empowered Flower Girl

By Joyce Wilson

School breaks give your family a chance to spend time together and bond. Like many families, you may choose to plan a vacation; however, with the ongoing pandemic, many of the family vacation plans you love may no longer be available. This situation may leave you wondering how best to spend your vacation as a family.

Empowered Flower Girl suggests some indoor and outdoor family vacation activities, some COVID-safe travel options, and how to stay safe during your family vacation.

Indoor and Outdoor Family Vacation Activities

Regardless of your family size, there are many fun activities you can do as a family during your vacation. Here are a few suggestions:

Do some gardening together as a family
Play hide and seek
Build a homemade treehouse or swing set
Play mini-golf with the older children
Consider attending dance classes together
Go hiking or biking together

Family vacation indoor activities include:

Playing board games
Going to the gym
Arranging indoor gardening activities

Family Vacation COVID-19 Safety Tips

Keeping your family safe during your vacation is a challenge this year due to the ongoing pandemic. According to federal experts, you can travel if you’re fully vaccinated, but you still need to take some precautions. They don’t recommend non-essential travel for unvaccinated people.

If you choose to travel for your family vacation, the following steps may lower travel-related risks.

Ensure anyone you plan to visit has received the COVID-19 vaccine if they’re eligible.
Check the COVID-19 community spread rates of the places you plan to visit.
Make sure everyone you travel with wears a mask when you use public transportation.
If you must fly, try to take direct flights.
Pack extra sanitizers and masks.

Likewise, consider the following pandemic-friendly family vacation travel options.

Limit interactions by staying at a private vacation home rental.
Go for a socially distant family road trip in an RV.
Go camping at a remote location.
If possible, travel by car.

As you plan your family vacation, keep in mind that the pandemic is not over. Even if you take the proper precautions, traveling involves significant risk during this period.

Install a Fence Around Your Property

One of the most important safety measures during a family staycation is fencing around your property, and it’s best done by a contractor. Search for a fencing company nearby before selecting one and read customer reviews online.

Cost is among the important factors to consider when comparing contractors. The cost of installing a new fence can vary depending on materials used, fence size, and the location of the installation. As with all projects that require digging, safety is a priority. You should make sure that the contractor is aware of any underground utility lines on your property.

Have Fun and Stay Safe

The ongoing pandemic has limited the number of options available for family vacations, especially those that involve coming into contact with the public. Thankfully, there are still many activities that you can still do both indoors and outdoors, and the insights in this article will help you have a fun and safe family vacation.

Joyce Wilson is a retired teacher and enjoys sharing lesson plans, resources, and teaching tips on Teacher Spark. Her website is a compilation of practical resources that will inspire student engagement and instill a love for learning. By tapping into a student’s natural creativity and curiosity, Joyce believes that they can take their education to a new level.

By Rasheda Kamaria

Don't be these girls, grounded and miserable for the summer. — **Don’t be like these girls, grounded and miserable for the summer.**

School’s almost out for the summer and Empowered Flower Girl wants you to make the most of it. But countless media reports have shown that some of you will mess it up even before it begins. From posting inappropriate pics to starting drama online, there are some surefire ways to have an effed up summer break. Don’t be that kid.

5. Cyberstalk your ex. As tempting as it may be to check your ex’s Instagram daily for new likes and comments from admirers, you should probably focus on something else – like yourself. Spare yourself the heartache.

4.Get in a Twitter fight with a celebrity. We all love to voice our opinions about celebrities who do crazy things, have wardrobe malfunctions or make fashion missteps. But resist getting into a battle with a famous person – especially Beyonce. The Beehive stings.

3.Put your BFF on blast via Facebook. Sure, best friends can disappoint us or even do jerky things from time to time. But, there is a better way to bring this to their attention rather than posting a shady status update. Pick up the phone, send an email or IM him or her and ask for your old friend back!

2.Post incriminating pics on Instagram. This is one of the best ways to kiss your potential summer internship or college acceptance good-bye. Even if everyone else is doing it, DO NOT post pics of drug or alcohol use, private parts or illegal activity online.

1.Do something productive. I know. This doesn’t follow the format of the other tips because you actually SHOULD engage in productive activities. Volunteer for a worthy cause, get a summer job or learn a new skill. Keeping yourself occupied will keep you out of trouble and give you a confidence boost.

You’re welcome.

Rasheda Kamaria is a mentor turned social entrepreneur on a mission to transform the way young people relate to one another. She is a communications professional and founder/chief empowering officer for Empowered Flower Girl. A survivor of bullying, Rasheda was featured in the May 2011 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine in the article “Being Bullied Changed My Life.” Visit empoweredflowergirl.com.