When my daughter Nicole was four, we visited Zihuatanejo for the day by tendering ashore from a cruise ship. She and her 16-year-old sister, Jessica, played in the gentle waves, ecstatic together until Jessica got to fly--or, more accurately, to try out parasailing. Nicole, too young and small to soar weightlessly over the shimmering Pacific, was consoled with the chance to sip coconut milk through a straw after watching a local vendor whack off the top of the fruit with his machete.

Later in the day, Nicole napped cozily in a purple hammock as Jessica and I shopped for Mexico's fine regional specialties--silver from Taxco, black pottery from Oaxaca and ceremonial masks from Guerrero, the state that holds Zihuatanejo on its northwest coast, 150 miles north of Acapulco. My husband kept the hammock swaying in the balmy air as he watched some fishermen on the municipal beach weave repairs into their nets.

Nicole and I returned when she was seven, en route to Club Med Ixtapa just 10 miles up the road. I had chosen to be decadently self-indulgent, snatching an extra four days from demanding work and school schedules for some precious "quality time" with my child at my favorite Mexican beach resort. This was to be a two-part vacation: Club Med for activities and entertainment galore--especially the resort's excellent circus program for kids--and for time both together and apart. Zihuatanejo would be for some cultural immersion and intensive mother-daughter bonding in Mexico, a country that always opens its heart to families.

THINGS PARENTS TAKING A CHILD TO MEXICO SHOULD KNOW

Minors traveling with one parent or a guardian must have a notarized letter of consent from the other/both parents stating that the children may be taken out of their home country.

Carol Canter, an Oakland-based freelance writer, enjoys exploring Mexico with her family.

Please keep in mind that phone numbers, addresses, and prices are subject to change. Updated August 2005.