Why All the Buzz About Skip-Gen Travel?
Perhaps we should first explain what skip-gen travel is before we unpack all the reasons why it is trending as one of the hottest new topics in travel.
Skip-Gen trips involve a grandparent or grandparents traveling with one or more grandchildren. Simple enough. What’s missing from the equation? The “mid gens” – the parents of the children – who are left at home when the travel gets underway. (But don’t feel sorry for them – read on!)
The reason it is growing in popularity is certainly due in part to its being a nearly perfect win-win-win situation. Grandparents get to enjoy the company of and bond with their grandchildren, kids enjoy the extra special attention grandparents usually bestow, and the parents get a break from child care – maybe to take a vacation of their own?
So what are some of the other factors driving this trend?
The first is that there are just so many more grandparents around. It is no secret that baby boomers are entering retirement in record numbers: an average of 10,000 every day! And that retirement phase they are entering? It’s likely to stretch out much longer than for retirees in the past. The average person retiring at age 65 or 66 today can expect to spend twenty years in retirement.
What’s more, Social Security reports that 57% of retirees choose to retire even earlier than full retirement age. That’s a lot of retirement years! After good health and financial security, two things frequently cited as being very important to retirees are: time with family and opportunities to travel. What then could be better than combining the two?
Conversely, there are fewer grandchildren divided among all those grandparents. Large families used to be the norm, but no longer. Why does that matter? Well, first of all, most grandparents aren’t likely to plan a trip with four, five, or six grandchildren in tow. (There are exceptions, including yours truly – but more on that in a later post!) When there are fewer of them, grandparents can lavish more time, attention, and disposable income on each grandchild. It’s just a matter of math – and energy!
Grandparents do tend to have more disposable income than their children. They certainly have more disposable time. More families than ever before have two working parents and there has been plenty of press about how stressed young parents feel. Having a grandparent take a child on vacation during the summer or a school holiday can be a tremendous help with childcare logistics and day care costs. And whether they use the time to work, relax, or plan a getaway for themselves, the break from 24/7 childcare can be a much-needed boost. (We all know it’s true!)
In our mobile society, it is not uncommon for grandparents to live in a different city or even a different state (sometimes a different country?) from their grandchildren. Grandparents may only see their grandchildren several times in a year, generally at busy times such as holidays when it may not be easy to spend quality or one-on-one time with each grandchild. (I speak from experience!) Grandparents can often be heard expressing a longing to bond with their far-flung grandchildren.
Grandparents also tend to be more healthy and active today than grandparents in previous generations. One recent article about skip-gen travel mentioned an additional factor I had never considered, but it does make sense: grandparents today have more experience planning trips. Many of them took their children on summer vacations – camping, theme parks, educational trips. Now that their own children are grown, they are ready to put all that knowledge and experience to good use with the next generation!
Aaaah, and I have saved the best reason for last. Grandparents and grandchildren need each other. There are actual physical and mental health benefits for both. More than one study has shown the benefits children gain from spending time with their grandparents. Other studies have shown that grandparents actually live longer if they spend time with their grandchildren!
Skip-gen travel looks like it is here to stay. So let’s skip ahead to actual travel options, reviews, stories, and tips. After all, there are so many exciting possibilities!