Tara Jenkins and Karen Pittar:

What makes a memorable family holiday? Certainly not the organisation: packing for five, finding someone to look after the family pet, stopping the newspaper delivery and buying a vat of sunscreen. So why, year after year, do we put ourselves through it?
Family holidays are all about building special bonds and memories, according to Kathy Wong Kin-ho, executive director of Playright Children’s Play Association in Hong Kong.
“They are a time for play and new experiences, a chance for adventure and exploration, and importantly, for rest and relationship building.”
Family holidays don’t have to be expensive or far-flung, Wong says – just fairly regular. “We all need time every day for rest, play, sleep, love and communication. The problem is we all live in cities, and city life has taken these basic things away from us. Family holidays are a time for us to re-experience these things, and we should look forward to a break every year, as much as possible.”