For better or for worse, our family tends to operate as a democracy lately.  Long gone are the days when my husband and I made all the decisions like a couple of benevolent dictators.  We can hardly make lunch plans without debate anymore, let alone travel plans.

A few months ago, we sat down as a family to plan our summer vacation.  While it wasn’t unanimous, we managed to come to a decision.  Here are four things you can do when your own kids start voting:

Give them choices

Just like breakfast, vacation planning goes best when you present your kids with a few approved choices.  Instead of waffles, bagels or cereal though, offer them a theme park, a beach trip, or camping.  Try to focus on experiences instead of locations, to keep your planning options open.

Watch the video

If you’ve got a particular agenda—say a river rafting trip or a visit to London—find a video online, at your local library, or on Amazon.com that you can all watch together.

For reasons we couldn’t fathom our 8-year-old son was initially opposed to our dude ranch idea.  Then he saw the ranch’s promotional video and immediately changed his mind.

Videos don’t have to be informational to be effective either.  Going to New York?  Rent Night at the Museum.  Heading for San Francisco?  Try The Princess Diaries.  Off to Alaska?  Grab Snow Dogs.

Read the book

Another good strategy is to look at guide books together.  You can’t beat DK Travel guides for page after page of full-color photos.  Visit your local Borders or Barnes and Noble and just browse.

Sometimes it’s also fun to find fiction that fits, though it requires more research.  The Magic Treehouse series is a good place to start (which even come in audio versions, if you can stand them).  Your local children’s librarian can be an incredible resource too.

Interview their friends

If you’re trying to sell a particular trip to your kids, try getting their well-traveled friends on board.  Wait until you have them all in the car, then say something like, “Tell us all about your trip to Washington, DC, Ben—your mom said it was amazing!”  This can backfire of course, but that’s kids for you.