National Survey Reveals Moms Say "Yes" to Kids More Often on Vacation

Moms are generally the family travel decision makers, and they are currently busy making plans for late spring and summer vacations. A new survey shows, however, that kids will be calling some of the shots while on their family vacations.  

A recent survey revealed that 69% of moms say “yes” to their kids more often while on vacation. The most popular requests to receive the positive response include: staying up late (80%); money, so the kids can buy something of their own (61%); eating candy, cookies, ice cream or dessert (49%); more play time (44%); and sleeping in (43%).

The “Yes Effect Survey” commissioned by the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc. and conducted by Synovate, polled hundreds of moms and kids across the country to delve into the power of “yes,” uncovering what moms say “yes” to on vacation as compared to topics kids typically get a “no” response to at home.    

According to the survey, moms also agree to some requests on vacation with reluctance. Moms shared that they hesitantly say “yes” to their kids on vacation to certain activities including: staying longer at a venue or attraction (64%); swimming in the pool (44%); riding a roller coaster or another ride (37%); and volunteering for a show or activity (21%).

What Mom Wants
Moms revealed that the #1 way they would like to put the power of “yes” to work is to take their kids on a nice vacation to a place they want to go (70%). And their top reasons for taking their children on vacation included: to provide new experiences (79%); to relax and have fun (66%); to get away from the stress of work, school and home (63%); and to spend one-on-one time with them (44%). Choosing from eight options, moms selected their top three reasons.

Other popular “yes” mom wishes were to: spend more one-on-one time with their children (61%); make life less busy and stressful (56%); and buy them the things they want (37%).  Moms chose from seven options and selected all answers that applied.

What Kids Want
When asked what they like best about vacations with their parents, kids revealed their favorite aspect of a vacation was going to places they had not been before (27%); spending more time with mom and dad (18%); staying in a hotel (14%); playing in a big swimming pool (11%); and not having to go to school (11%). Kids selected from nine options and chose the one that they liked the most.

If their parents would say “yes” to bringing one item along with them on vacation, kids indicated their first choice would be friends (70%), followed by a pet (26%) and a video game (18%). Participating kids selected from six options choosing all that applied.

Moms and Kids Agree
Moms and kids both chose Orlando (56% each) as the vacation destination they would most like to visit followed by a cruise (14% each), and the beach (11% each). New York City was the fourth choice getting 3% of the Mom vote and 5% of the kid vote.

Moms and Kids Disagree
When it comes to saying “no” at home, moms and kids don’t necessarily agree on how often the “n.o. means NO” response is given.  On an average day at home, kids say they hear the dreaded response from their parents almost twice as much as parents think they say it.  A total of 29% of kids claim they hear “no” more than 10 times a day while 16% of parents think they say “no” more than 10 times each day. 

On average, boys claim they hear the “no” response more often (23.3 times a day) than girls (17.5 times a day).  Requests denied the most by moms include: getting a new game or toy (88%), staying up late (86%), eating sweets (79%), a new pet (75%) and money (72%). The denied requests were ones that moms selected as saying no to “always” or “sometimes."