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Holidays with teenagers are challenging for parents, so how do you ensure that the family trip of a lifetime is one to remember for all the right reasons? One minute they hate you because no-one else’s parents make them be home by midnight (it’s so unfair) and the next, they want their mum. Don’t expect them to behave like an adult. Don’t expect them to enjoy museums and archaeological sites.

Don’t expect them to help you out when you are ineptly failing to book train tickets in French, even though they got an A for it at school.

Their teenage years are heart-breakingly difficult enough, so let them mope about the apartment watching Breaking Dawn if they want to.

Despite all your efforts to buy them happiness with dream holidays in the sun, it won’t work.

Telling them that you’ve worked hard all year to pay for this holiday just to put a smile on their face won’t make them appreciate your efforts. Family holiday fun?

They’d prefer it if you left them alone in their hotel room to listen to Bullet For My Valentine. Yes, of course they could have that done at home, at a great deal less expense, but stop bugging them, ok.

Give them space

It may seem to make economic sense to just book one room and add an extra bed for your wee one, but it isn’t.

There comes a time when your offspring become cumbersome in confined spaces, like an usurping cuckoo or a gawky, squawking pelican chick that has outgrown the nest but is still functionally useless. Beware growth spurts – a lot can happen between booking in January and going away in July.

Food is not necessarily glorious

You may love exotic food, and maybe your teens will want to show off to their mates that they ate scorpions in Bangkok, but many are a little picky in their eating habits. Choose restaurants where friendly foodstuffs like pizza are served under the same roof as the region’s specialities that you’ve been looking forward to since that series with Rick Stein.

And don’t assume that a kids’ menu means chicken nuggets and chips – it might just mean a small serving of scorpions.

Master the art of travel

Getting to the airport on time, remembering to pack your hair straighteners . . . going on holiday can be stressful. Master the basics of art of travel before even thinking about throwing teenagers into the mix. Gen up with our advice on 10 ways to ruin your holiday

Have a good time!

Consider the possibility that you might actually have a good time on holiday.

Free from the pressures of their peers, it’s possible that your dear teens will actually resemble human beings. You could bond over a whitewater rafting experience, and earn their respect on the dancefloor. Until then, happy holidays! – skyscanner.net