It’s one thing for the overworked, hyper-wired parent to indulge in a vacation of mindless novel reading on a poolside chaise. But why waste a child’s mind when you have the opportunity to stoke her gray matter with language lessons, putting tutorials and soufflé baking? Sandcastles can wait.
In today’s climate of resume-building beginning in fifth grade (if not earlier), many parents want more than sun and sand in a family vacation. Travel providers are eager to oblige with unique, educationally oriented activities for the little ones that don’t require shipping them off solo to an academic summer camp.
“In addition to family bonding, my clients want to explore specific interests when they travel,” says Ashley Ganz, owner of Artisans of Leisure, a tour operator in New York. She has arranged drawing sessions with anime artists in Japan and lessons in hieroglyphics in Egypt. “But they want to keep it fun. They don’t want a lot of time in museums.”
