Mom, I’m bored! There’s nothing to do around here! Those are common complaints parents hear by the first week after school lets out for the summer. Telling the kids to hang on for that fabulous vacation you have been planning all year might not be the answer this time around once you add up the cost of hotel, meals and that $4 a gallon gas. If your “get-a-way” just “got away” due to rising fuel costs, and you realize that trip to the beach is not in the budget, you need some ideas fast before the whining sets in. Instead of a vacation where you “vacate” the home for rest and relaxation, how about a “stay-cation” that will give you the rest and relaxation without breaking the bank?

Avoid the sticker shock at the gas pump and rediscover your city. Day trips mixed in with relaxing at home can make a “stay-cation” a great alternative. Memories are made on a “slip and slide” just as well as at Sea World. (No offense to Shamu, but the refreshments are a lot cheaper out of your refrigerator.)

Get those bikes out of the garage and take a spin around the neighborhood. Pack a picnic and go to the park. Barbecue ribs are just as tasty at Concepción Park as they are at Corpus. So often, we say “I just have to get away!” and spend all our money escaping the home that we spend most of our income to buy and furnish.

Quality time is built around the people we love, not the location. Think in terms of lasting value. Is it the fancy pool at the hotel, or the shouts of “Daddy, look at me!” when kids jump in that make the difference? The quality of the vacation is in the attitude, not the price range. As parents, we set the tone for our children. If we mope around and complain about how our vacation is ruined by rising prices, they will reflect that misery to us and the whole family will be grumpy. On the other hand, if we think creatively and get down to the real reason for vacation: time to relax and play with family — we will realize all that can happen right at home.

Determine what you enjoy most on vacation and figure out how to create that at home. I try to make time for the things that just don’t fit into the working life like cooking.

Some people would run from the kitchen during time off, but that is where I like to be, making those family favorites that bring us all together. It is not any kind of vacation at our house without chicken flautas. They are the stuff of family memories. Yes, I get a lot of dishes dirty and the air will smell like a Mexican restaurant, but a “stay-cation” is just the time for guacamole, pico de gallo, rice and borracho beans to round out the plate. The time I spend chopping and cooking is a gift of my time to my hungry children. Once, when they remarked we have to be getting company from out of town to rate chicken flautas, I realized it was time to get in the kitchen — just for them!

Find your own ingredients to build quality time. Whether it is barbecueing, playing games, watching movies or riding bikes, the only limited resource is your imagination. Time with children is so precious … in what seems like the blink of an eye, they are grown and gone to new adventures. Making time now to run in the sprinkler, catch fireflies and share stories will build your relationship in a way running through a theme park cannot.

As you build your memories close to home this summer, something will be missing: a big credit card bill to follow you home.

Kathy Lozano is the director of Parents’ Academy. Call (210) 532-0894 for information on parenting workshops.