Bring the Kids Along

World
By Harry
Bring the Kids Along

When I was a kid, we rarely went on big family trips.

Part of that is generational. I was born in the 60s, when the lives of children and their parents were more separated. Air travel was still special and, in my family, reserved for adults. But there was also something innate. I think some people are homeless and some are not. We had a vacation home in the same condition as our “real” home, and when vacation time came, that’s where we went.

In my own life as a parent, I have leaned a lot in the opposite direction. I have a photograph of my son when he was two and a half years old, looking into a luxurious bathtub in a Paris hotel. Before he was 10 years old, he had traveled to China. I didn’t take an international flight until my junior year of college.

The pandemic halted our travels for a while; our 2020 trip to Japan is now planned for later this year. But it seems everyone is on the go and families are leaving no one home with the nanny. Hotels are ditching “no kids” rules. Generations leave together, often with grandparents and grandchildren sharing their own adventure and leaving parents behind. That kind of change in the way we vacation inspired me and my colleagues at The Times’ travel bureau to put together a special package published this week on family travel.

Why take the kids? I think those of us who expect our children to be more curious, more tolerant, and more capable of negotiating the world. We take our children to museums, hoping that our love of culture will rub off; we explore the natural world, hoping they will look up and experience the beauty of the earth; we mix a bit of history with kid-focused activities to help them understand the tides that continue to carry us.

On that trip to France when my son was little, we went to Giverny to see Monet’s house and we dragged him around the Louvre in a pram. We also rented a farmhouse in the south of France that was surrounded by vineyards. One morning a big blue grape harvester came through the rows of vines and pulling the ripe grapes in its jaws. My son was fascinated. For him, it was the highlight of the trip.

And who is to say that I was wrong?

  • Donald Trump prepared to surrender in Manhattan next week in the first US indictment against a former president, and police braced for protests.

  • Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg resurrected Trump’s case by turning a skeptic into his office and adding a veteran lawyer to lead the investigation.

  • Trump’s Republican rivals avoided attacking him.

  • Some former Trump voters said it was time to move on from the search for a 2024 presidential candidate.

  • A deadly storm system spawned tornadoes across the United States, wreaking destruction from Wisconsin to Texas. At least six people died.

  • Russian troops captured criminals as they were retreating from a Ukrainian city and took some of them on an odyssey through five prisons and five countries.

🍿 “Tetris” (available now) and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (Friday): Just a few weeks after the season finale of HBO’s hit series “The Last of Us” and we find ourselves with two back-to-back weekends of ’80s video game adaptations: Apple TV+’s “Tetris” and the highly anticipated remake. big screen animation of “It’s Me, Mario!” Perhaps the industry is finally realizing that because games are many things, their adaptations can be anything (a post-apocalypse zombie series, a Cold War comedy-drama, a goofy family movie).

📚 “Finding Me” (Tuesday): This year, Viola Davis became one of the rare artists to earn an EGOT, having won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. She joined the club by winning a Grammy for narrating her best-selling memoir. She can get that audiobook or wait for the paperback, available this week.

I’m a strong advocate of eggs for dinner, especially when paired with rich beans and a spicy sauce, like in the classic huevos rancheros. But of course you could do the Kay Chun one. mostly savory version of the dish at any time of the day, and with remarkable ease.

showcase: The KRB interior decoration store in Manhattan is part store and part workshop for experiments in mixing objects of different quality and provenance.

Super Bloom: 10 places to see flowers in the West right now.

Have a date: Looking for romance? Try moving abroad.

Avoid the scale: Three ways to know how fit you are.

Run better: Use your diaphragm to breathe.

Shoulder pads: A resurgence is coming.

Easter morning is only a week away, and if you’re gathering treats for the kids, Wirecutter has ideas. There are sweets, of course; we’re partial to Cadbury Mini Eggs, Jelly Bellies and seasonal treats from See’s. Simple spring toys like bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and jump ropes are classics. We also like to anchor a basket with a special book, stuffed animal, or toy—a sweet Folkmanis hand puppet and a white Lego rabbit are new favorites. Looking for a basket? Instead of a junky version that will end up in the landfill, a nice duffel bag or inexpensive plastic beach bucket can do a great job of substituting.. —Kalee Thompson

NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship: Iowa defeated South Carolina last night, 77-73, ending the Gamecocks’ perfect season behind another remarkable game from Caitlin Clark, who scored 41 points. The Hawkeyes will play Louisiana State, which beat Virginia Tech. The Tigers have come a long way in just two years under coach Kim Mulkey. It helps to have Angel Reese, a star forward whose 33 double-doubles this season tied an NCAA record. Tomorrow at 3:30 pm ET on ABC.

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