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Taking the Kids: The future of kids' clubs

By Eileen Ogintz, Tribune Content Agency on

The Driscolls' vacation every year with extended family at a family-centric resort or on a cruise line known for morning-till-night supervised kids' activities. But the five kids -- all eight and under -- rarely take part in organized kids' programs.

"The cousins entertain each other," said Anna Driscoll, playing in a resort pool with the family. The North Carolina mom adds, "When we're with Nana, she wants to be with the kids."

This family was one of many I met recently at the brand-new Nickelodeon Hotels and Resorts Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. There were families playing together on the beach and at the Nick Aqua water playground, or eating at the many restaurants, specifically designed for families to share meals. But few kids were in the well-equipped and well-staffed kids' club.

"We both work full time," explained Laura Webster, vacationing with her husband and two young children from England. "This vacation is specifically about being with the children."

These days, every major resort and cruise line catering to the family market offers extensive children's programming, including trapeze lessons at Club Med, stories read by Disney's Belle, and the chance to party with other favorite characters aboard the Disney Cruise Line, "Sesame Street"-themed activities at Beaches resorts, hula lessons at a Four Seasons resort in Maui and an entire Cook(at)Play program in a kitchen designed for kids at Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.

Certainly the spaces themselves are far better than years ago, offering bright colors, the latest interactive toys and plenty of sunlight, as opposed to being stuck in some out of the way conference room. Counselors today speak many languages and have teaching backgrounds and first-aid training.

 

Parents say that while they may use the programs on occasion (especially, it seems, aboard ships) what they are most interested in is more activities they can share with their kids.

"We don't need baby-sitters," said Ami Sethi, the mom of three. She adds that whether or not they use a kids' club depends on the quality of the activities offered.

This sentiment is backed up by recent research on millennial families, presented at the TMS Family Travel Conference I co-chair, and by what resorts and cruise lines themselves are seeing, inspiring them to continually add more family-centric activities.

"We found that today's parents booking vacations are looking for different moments that bring them closer to their spouse and closer to their kids, whether it's one-on-one time with one parent and one child or the entire family," suggested Club Med CEO Xavier Mufraggi. Club Med famously pioneered the kids' club concept more than 50 years ago. In fact, according to the 2016 MMGY Global Portrait of American Travelers, significantly more families rank having free Wi-Fi in a hotel room more important than an organized kids' program, 85 percent vs 55 percent.

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