This is a parenting page, about parenting Page. I am a child psychologist and a mother. So I specialize in children, yet I am human, thus I am full of knowledge and yet as full of emotions as any other parent. So I decided to write this Parenting Page since it might be informative and funny for others to take an insider look at a child specialist raising her child. I also wanted to create a way to show Page when she grows up, if she chooses to have children, a real-life view of the experience. I hope you enjoy these stories and musings.

Each year we enter spring, the time for spring break vacation and for planning summer vacations. Finding a family vacation that works for everyone isn’t always easy. A child adds a whole new aspect to vacationing. Now you have people of vastly different ages – adults and children – trying to enjoy the same vacation. Our first vacation alone with Page (i.e., without Peter’s mother) was when Page was about a year and a half old. We went to the beach, and were soon staring at each other exhausted, saying, “How is this a vacation?” Awake at 6am after a previous of day of entertaining a child all day at the beach with all of the accompanying paraphernalia of beach toys, diaper bag, and snacks that come with a child, it seemed like work and not relaxation! Gone were the lazy beach days drinking various alcohol-infused drinks with umbrellas, and leisurely strolls along the shore.

Nonetheless we persisted. We love to travel and were determined not to become people who stopped or lessened travel a lot when they became parents. Page celebrated her first birthday in Greece, and toured Spain, England, and France for her second birthday. At age four she snorkeled for the first time in Belize, which has persisted as one of her earliest memories. In Moscow at age five she saw “Firebird’s Castle” from the children’s show Little Einsteins (i.e. St. Basil’s Cathedral), and in Milan at age six she thought the Milan Cathedral, a stunning vision of all white, was a princess castle and that seeing it would mean all her dreams would come true! Gone were the days of us feeling like vacation was “work” – we adjusted to that and took pleasure in seeing the world through the eyes of a child. We chose hotels based on how good their Kid’s Club looked versus how romantic the hotel seemed, and a balcony became a must so we could sit outside for a while at night when Page went to sleep.

And so our travels persisted, through many ages and U.S. states and various countries. There were friends Page met in pools she remained pen pals with for years, and families we started sharing vacation plans with to see if we could all bump into each other again, which sometimes we did. I think Page learned terrific social skills from traveling, and confidence to get around; by age eight she could navigate an airport like a pro! We also all learned a lot of patience with one another, having to get along in small hotel rooms, when travel-weary and grumpy, and having to negotiate what to see and do while on vacation. Asked in a school assignment to list one of the best things about her childhood, Page said she loved that we took her to so many places around the world. And while we have been fortunate enough to have copious amounts of frequent flier miles to go so far, I think even closer-to-home vacations have similar benefits. When I was a child myself, we had no money for vacations, but our camping trips had a lot of the same elements of negotiating what to do amongst different ages and interests, meeting other kids, etc. Even some of Page’s and my staycations had these same elements.

Of course, we also created a wanderlust child who gets frustrated when she hasn’t been away in a while. After a longer than usual summer vacation when Page was age two, we didn’t go anywhere for a year, not even for a weekend. A very serious three-year-old walked into my room and proclaimed, “Mom, I need a vacation!” She then proceeded to break into her “vacation dance,” which is a dance of happiness she created as a jet-lagged two-year-old walking by a disco in Barcelona late at night after a late dinner. Decades later you will still find us doing our “vacation dance,” as we exclaim, “Vacation! Vacation! Vacation!” and dance around. Though as Page entered her tween years she admonished us not to do it in public and embarrass her. 🙂

Dr. Tina Lepage is the owner of Lepage Associates Solution-Based Psychological & Psychiatric Services, a group practice with offices in S. Durham/RTP, Chapel Hill, and Raleigh. She lives in Chapel Hill with her husband, daughter, and two dogs. www.lepageassociates.com. You can find her on Twitter at @LepageAssoc or at Facebook.com/LepageAssociates.