Museum or zoo. Ice cream or fresh watermelon. Creating opportunities for kids to make choices within healthy boundaries supports them to make solid decisions in the future. What will a child learn if we plan out every moment of their day for them?

Before our trip, the adults in our two families planned a list of possible interesting things to do in Colombia. These ideas became cards which included the activity, image, and a description or question for the kids. (See Choice Cards Directions for more details.) Our group represented a range of reading levels, so including a picture was a beneficial extra step.

Using the Choice Cards

On days where we didn’t already have a scheduled tour (like the Botegena Boat Trip to the Rosario Islands), we laid out the Choice Cards and let the kids work together to decide what the day would bring. An adult was nearby to guide through questions like:

• Which activities have we not yet completed?
• What is another choice that might pair well with that activity?
• What is something else that we might want to do after that?

This Choice Card strategy differs from simply asking “what would you like to do today?” with endless possibilities by providing vetted options that adults already know are:

• reasonable (price, time, distance)
• available (open, recommended)
• safe (age-appropriate)

We anticipated occasional disagreements and had our intervention tactics prepared and rehearsed, but surprisingly the kids really worked together. I’ve used this strategy with my boys on random Saturdays with local activities (puppet show at the library, creation station at the art museum, or bike ride on the green way) and it works beautifully. When they don’t agree, they find ways to negotiate or compromise.

Daily Schedule

Our kids benefit from morning conversations about the day’s schedule. This prevents the repeated “what are we doing next” questions that tend to inevitably spiral into ridiculous responses from us such as “I’ve told you a million times already” or “when I was a kid we actually knew what it meant to be bored.”

On this trip we added the time we decided to be ready to go and what they would need. This helped our young kids take responsibility for these items and reduced the amount of “do you have your shoes, do you have your water” harping from the parents. Guess what…the eight of us were almost always ready to go at the decided time…a miracle.

Consider trying this Choice Card activity on a weekend, school break, or next trip and let us know how it goes!