We already have the honeymoon and the babymoon, but now the Kindermoon? Last year as part of a marketing plan to increase customer engagement, Disney founded the idea of the Kindermoon vacation. If you are a regular Disney Junior watcher, which is basically the only thing on the television in a house with a 3 year old and a 6 month old, you may have heard them throwing around this term in commercials. When I first heard this, I laughed it off, but then got curious so I did a little research and you know what I found – people are actually taking Kindermoons.
What is a Kindermoon? A Kindermoon is a vacation that a family takes just prior to when one of their children is getting ready to start Kindergarten. This got me thinking – over the past couple years there has been an increase in the popularity of a “moon” vacation. I think it might just make people feel better to align a luxurious vacation with a purpose. Perhaps this makes spending the money on the vacation more justifiable or maybe we just love to come up with new things to hashtag on Instagram #kindermoon.
Though this might sound unnecessary there are some really positive aspects of a Kindermoon.
1. Change is coming. Even if your child is enrolled in daycare there is something different about starting school. New schedules, new challenges and new opportunities are upon you and your family.
2. Creating new experiences with your child will help strengthen the bond within your family.
3. Starting school is a milestone that deserves a celebration, by both the parents and the child – you have made it!
4. Reflect and refresh. Use this time to reflect on the past five years and relax before entering a fun and exciting school year!
The intent and purpose of any of these are to create lasting memories as an individual or family, so no matter what kind of “moon” you want to call your vacation, I can get behind the concept of taking time to appreciate the stage of life you are in and creating memories during that time before it slips away.
What are some of the other traditional and non-traditional moon vacations?
• The Honeymoon. A classic and likely the first type of moon one could take.
• The Babymoon. This concept has been gaining popularity over the last ten years and has become pretty common for expectant parents.
• The Kindermoon. On the rise, to promote family bonding before kids begin their academic career.
• The Bachelormoon. I have only heard this language used a couple of times, but this would refer to the concept that the bacherlor/bacherlorette party has now turned into a vacation rather than a one night celebration.
• The Collegemoon. Taking a vacation with your children before they get ready to go to college. More commonly known as your high school graduation gift.
Personally, I am a few years out from a Kindermoon, but I think this might be a bandwagon that I hop on if nothing more than to take some more time to focus on my kids and appreciate the ability to make memories with one another.
