How many family holidays you have left with your children
Childhood holidays are limited. This counts how many are left before your child starts their own life.
Your numbers
Common answers are filled in. Change the ones you know.
Typical: 8 years. Put in yours.
It only changes the order on your statement.
What waiting costs you
10 trips left
About 10 family holidays left before your child turns 18
That's 1 trip a year for 10 years. 1 trip didn't happen while it waited.
Your small stepPick a month for this year's trip and tell the family tonight.
How we worked this out
- Years until 18: 18 minus 8 = 10.
- Trips left: 10 × 1 a year = 10.
- Missed while it waited: 1 year × 1 = 1.
- How much it matters to you: 7 out of 10. It only changes the order on your statement.
Sources
- Tim Urban, The Tail End (2015): Counting the days you have left with someone, instead of the years, shows how much of that time may already be behind you.
How it works
We take the years until the age your child is likely to leave home, and multiply by the trips a year you'd like.
The idea comes from Tim Urban's essay The Tail End.
Sources
- Tim Urban, The Tail End (2015): An idea, not data. The numbers come from your answers and the averages below.
Questions people ask
Does a trip have to be far away?
No. A trip is whatever feels like a holiday to your family, even a day out.
What about after they leave?
Grown children still travel with their parents. The holidays just look different.
Putting off more than one thing?
Pick up to five and get your Delay Statement: what to do first, what can wait, and one small step for today.
Want a nudge to act on it?
The app turns what you're putting off into a short list for each day: your Top 3 and one small step at a time. It's free.
We show what waiting costs on your own plans. We never tell you what to buy or invest in. Rules and averages change, so check the official pages before you plan anything.