Recently, I was planning to travel with my two daughters to Universal Orlando and on a Royal Caribbean cruise out of Port Canaveral, Fla. My girls were ecstatic and, the best part was that it was my older daughter’s birthday. Unfortunately, we were not able to take the trip and I had to let them know.

It was particularly hard because it was my daughter’s birthday, but I thought about it and came up with a strategy. If the same thing happens to you, here are some tips for telling the kids that plans have changed.

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