How To Vacation As a Single Mom 

Recently, a regular reader, “Greg Peck Fan,” wrote to ask:

“How do single moms handle vacations? Disney by myself, with two kids? Uh…I can’t even figure out how the line logistics would work. Plus my two kids are 5 years apart. So, I’m just in trouble.”

This is how I’ve pulled off a fun, relaxing vacation: go with another single mom or a family member you adore.

Last summer, I had the amazing opportunity to go to Mexico with my adventurous single mom friend, Amy — and my sister. Don’t get me wrong, when you put five females in one big room, there is bound to be some drama. We had a couple of misunderstandings, but this is what saved us: Amy suggested that we agree on ground rules and boundaries before boarding the plane.

This is how we decided to take turns. Each night, one mama put the girls to bed. That means that my little sister even played “mama” two nights, so Amy and I got grown-up time over margaritas!

We also took turns making meals — and cooking definitely saved us money. Amy knows that I can’t stand air conditioning, so we even talked about how to handle this one, too!

Also, we both have feisty daughters, so Amy, who’s a teacher, asked me in an email: “How should we handle their arguments should they arise?”

She had the brilliant idea to take turns being The Mother of the Day. That means that one of us was in charge of discipline each day. It gave me great pleasure to say, “Talk to the other mama today — it’s her turn today.”

Of course, vacationing with another parent is a lot to juggle. You might have lots of kids and different parenting styles. But the most important part is having fun, right?

If you’ve gone on vacation this summer, how did you do it? If you’re planning to take a trip as a single parent, do you have any tips?