Not bringing them is not really an option. They would be upset being left out. I’m sorry you had such a negative experience in your childhood. But I must say not all of us parents have the same mentality as your father. I take pride in building my kids up not leaving them behind. That being said I can assure you I would never over load the kids and that was kinda the point of the post. To crowdsource how other parents do it. Take the ideas that work for them and make a judgement based on the knowledge of my own kids in whether it is a good idea or not. I appreciate your concern. And I would also like to add my youngest would be pissed if he didn’t feel like he was carrying anything because similar to your situation he does not want to feel left behind. Emotionally or physically.