Are your loved ones vacations a period of excitement, discovery and togetherness? Or, do your children plug within their headphones or play with electronic gadgets? Do http://bostonjournal.org Links to an external site. that their cell phones look like part of their hand?

To turn this around, travel journals open the door to connect members of the family and create lasting memories.

Imagine this-you tell your kids that everyone will have their very own section in the travel journal. Are your children groaning? Are you groaning just thinking about their reaction?

Your kids may complain, because they do that sometimes. To make this work, here are several tricks to use:

? Begin with a blank travel journal which has multiple sections. One that has tabs is best, however in a pinch, you can make your own sections using sticky notes.

? Stock your budding writers with colored pens, pencils, crayons, glue sticks, scissors, etc. Supply stickers for younger children.

? Provide everyone with a durable pouch or container to get souvenirs which may be placed into the travel journal. Ticket stubs, postcards, brochures, and menus are excellent mementos.

? Ask young children if they want help. If they don't, leave them alone. Should they do, ask if they prefer help from a grown-up or a mature sibling, assuming an older child is ready to help. Older children helping younger ones is really a memory worth capturing.

? Everyone can put whatever they want within their designated section. Don't correct or censor anyone's journal entries.

Stimulate their interest with fun assignments. Here are several ideas:

? If you visit a museum, focus on the gift shop and also have youngsters pick out their favorite postcard. While touring the museum, keep these things search for that object or art. Later, paste the postcard in the travel journal.

? Suggest that kids look daily for a vacation highlight to draw. Anything can be done, be it buildings, animals, mountains, seashells or people.

? Claim that kids try new foods and record what they ate. They can pretend they're food critics, giving thumbs up or thumbs right down to various restaurants.

? When visiting relatives, have kids jot down things they think are funny or memorable.

? On long road trips, search for interesting bumper stickers, vanity plates or signs. These could be contained in the travel journal. Photos of license plates, road signs, or unusual cars can be added later to your travel journal.

? If you happen to be a foreign country, have kids note new words or phrases. Engage them by asking them to learn the word for bathroom, dog, or hello, and write them in the trip diary.

? Visit a local post office, particularly for foreign travel. Stamps are inexpensive souvenirs that look beautiful when pasted into a travel journal. Kids enjoy picking them out and practicing their foreign language skills as well.

As a group, it is possible to decide how you want to share the journal. This may be an evening activity or one which you do at meal times. Teens may want to write their journal entries at night, so anticipate to turn the trip diary to them. Remember to require it each morning so early risers can truly add their memories.

If despite your best efforts to engage your children in this activity, don't force it in it. Instead, make an effort to involve them in other ways. Once you have everyone's attention, ask them what a few of the day's highlights were. Write them in your travel journal. (You shouldn't be surprised if they notice elements of your vacation that you didn't notice.)

Travel journals turn ordinary trips into family legacies. Long after your vacation has ended, your trip journal it's still here, forever reminding you of one's precious time with your family.