UpClose & Personal - Nancy Griffin

Whereas spas were formerly "kid-free zones," today more and more day spas and resort spas are accommodating children. "We are giving a lot more spa treatments to children," say Debra Chin, General Manager of Aqua Day Spa in Santa Monica, California. Aqua policy on massaging children is that they be in the presence of an adult. "It makes the therapist feel more comfortable," says Chin.

"Resort spas have always courted family business, but now more and more of them are offering a variety of activities that promote physical fitness and well-being for the entire family," said Susie Ellis of Spafinder, the No. 1 spa travel reservation company in the United States. Many resort spas offer free or deeply discounted children's room rates and many supply a variety of programs that entertain and educate kids while giving parents a chance to get active.

Examples of kid-friendly spas are Camp Grande at Spa Grande at the Grand Wailea Resort in Maui, Hawaii, which offers family workshops in hula dancing, lei-making and ukulele. Kids and parents alike who go spa-ing at Topnotch at Stowe or Stoweflake Mountain Resort and Spa can tour the Ben & Jerry's factory or the granite quarries of Vermont. At the Sea Island Spa at

the Cloister in Georgia there are crabbing parties, kayaking tours and ropes courses offered in the Teens Too! Program, and children ages 3-11 get in on supervised loggerhead turtle walks.

Topnotch at Stowe

Spafinder's top family-friendly spas include: Florida's Boca Raton Resort & Club, Sanibel Harbour Resort &

Spa and Amelia Island Plantation; The Broadmoor andWyndham Peaks Resort & Golden Door Spa in Colorado; Grove Park Inn in North Carolina; The Cliff Spa at Snowbird, Utah; and Nemacolin Woodlands Spa in the Northeast. Call (800) 255-7727 or visit www.spafinder.com.

The Cliff Spa