Family Flow: The Pleasures of "Being Together" in a Holiday Home

Academia has taken two distinct approaches to the social experience of family holiday, emphasizing the moments of togetherness either as the experiences of just-being-together or experiences of an escapist realm of family members' immersion into shared activities and fun. Based on 26 in-depth whole-family interviews with Danish, German and Norwegian families on holiday in a Danish holiday home and a conceptual foundation in flow and reversal theory, this article focusses on the pleasures of being-together from parents' and children's perspectives. The article illustrates that the social experience of family holiday and special moments of togetherness during holiday in a holiday home appear as a composition of reverse pleasures and continuous reversals between excitement and relaxation. An intra-family dynamic of reverse yet interrelated pleasures creating a social balance - or a family flow - providing optimal holiday experiences for both parents and children are argued to be an important factor of being together on family holiday.