Wit has it that the phrase family vacation is an oxymoron. One can take one's family or go on vacation, but not both at the same time. Indeed, most family vacations do not appear to be periods of relaxation, but rather parents accompanying children on the children's vacation. However, family vacations are an important time, not for leisure, but for the renewal and growth as a family. During most of the year, we are occupied with our different pursuits.
Children spend much of their day in school and with their friends.
Even when involved in family activities, families are often apart. Various pastimes, the soccer games and piano lessons that occupy children, tend to fragment the family as parents escort their charges from one place to another. Vacations provide a time when a family is forced to be in close proximity for an extended period. It is on a driving vacation particularly that we learn to mediate disputes about what music to listen to. Indeed, we unfortunately become aware of the poor excuse for music that our children enjoy.