Should kids go on holiday abroad every year?

Train in Europe is increasingly popular. Kids love it- you can move around, watch countryside, play games.

You certainly don't have to fly do go abroad. And if families just stay in compound by the pool, etc- there is NO cultural aspect at all.

The word 'should' in the OP, is truly bizarre.

Bwahahahaha!

Not bollocks at all look at the DCs in first on any flight, they are always calm and happy to sit still. The parents are used to it to so bring the right equipment and know how to manage jet lag. It's just like 11yo Londoners know how to use the tube- just practice.

Bollocks.

How big a trip are we talking?

Some people on here seem to think a holiday is costing several grand via a package to a hotel that's all inclusive and fingers crossed we don't get food poisoning.

Others are happy with a car ferry to France and others camping and so on.

If you are happy to drove abroad that will open up many more possibilities.

There are lots of ways to get around this, short city breaks, book as soon as flights open up, and find b and bs?

I

You can spot the kids who fly frequently by how great their behaviour is while travelling

I would suggest that there are plenty of holidays you could have in the UK that create a well rounded person. Certainly more than spending a week or two in a holiday resort where almost no person from these shores makes any attempt to speak the local language or adapt their behaviour to local customs.

Holidays can be lovely for children, but they aren’t necessary- especially not abroad.

I gave my ds10 a choice of a holiday abroad this year or a short break in the uk to a place we have been 4 times before and is only 2 hours from home- and he chose the uk immediately (and he has done the foreign holiday thing so he does know what he’s choosing between).

We had planned to do entirely domestic holidays until they were about 8 or 9 and able to be less than feral on a plane. There are so many amazing places to visit in the UK.

An overseas holiday doesn't equal a rounded upbringing.
We didn't have foreign holidays as kids.
And I can count on one hand the times I've flown in the last 10 years.
BUT we did travel all around the UK on fairly cheap family holidays.
Yes, I'd love to have done more, but my holidays in UK were irreplaceable.

Total luxury. Definitely not required to have a rounded upbringing.

My son is four and has never been on holiday, let alone a holiday abroad. I am a disabled single parent and quite honestly don’t think I can ever afford a holiday - so saying about a holiday abroad each year is barbaric and quite degrading to people like me.

I grew up in a large family and we only ever went on holiday abroad twice but most years went on a seaside caravan holiday in the summer. These were so much more enjoyable than abroad holidays personally.

Unless we are talking going to Vietnam or Namibia or Belize or similar, to truly experience different cultures and approaches to life, pool-side holidays do very little for "rounding up".

While the passes are v reasonable when I started checking routes the reservation fees did jump up the pricing significantly. Next time OH and I can get 2 weeks off together in the summer we would like to do this though .

@Neurodiversitydoctor
I think @Misthios comment about 'if you live in the SE corner of England maybe' was to do with the ease of travel if you were going on Eurostar or a ferry, rather than the price. If you live in the north of England, Scotland or West Wales it's a very long journey to get to that point.

I feel so sad that so many people posting on Mumsnet (I have seen it on other threads too) seem to know nothing about the beauties of the UK. We had no money for foreign travel when I was growing up back in the Pleistocene, but I was introduced to lovely (if on occasion chilly) beaches in Dorset and Devon and Yorkshire and Norfolk, saw the great cathedrals of York and Lincoln and Wells and Norwich, walked in the Lake District and the Peak District, and yes (runs for cover) was even taken to some gorgeous stately homes. From a very young age too. You are not raising a Deprived Child if you can't afford a holiday abroad.

We can’t even afford a UK holiday this years. I don’t feel my son will be less well-rounded because of it.

Of course your family holidays abroad were some of your best childhood memories - but if your family hadn't been able to take you abroad, then your best childhood memories would have been your childhood visits to Wales/Norfolk or wherever.

It must be obvious to you that there are many people who cannot afford a holiday at the moment - many can't even afford the caravan in Brean without taking their children out of school (or even at all).

And there are some children who will struggle with the whole experience of travelling and being out of their routine.

So I'm sure you can see why parents may not be taking their children abroad.

I grew up in poverty and did not have a holiday until my 20s.

What a child needs is loving, supportive parents, I think this is what makes well rounded children.

My DC are lucky enough to have more of privileged upbringing (nowhere near as much as some posters on MN) but I also provide them with museum visits, reading books etc, watching documentaries and just general learning, which I think helps as a holistic approach.

I never went on holiday as a child except on the ferry to Ireland to visit family. I first went on a plane a month before my 20th birthday!
I went on to travel quite a bit in my 20s. That's the time to do it, I don't think little kids get much out of travelling and it must be a pain in the arse for parents! My cousins are lucky enough to travel to their holiday homes and to luxury resorts but I'm not envious. They do invite me sometimes. Not like I can afford even the plane fare, lol. But I think kids under about 7 probably don't need to travel too far.

But to add that's more for DH and I, not the kids. They talk about Isle of Wight and Florida in the same breath, but DH and I much prefer our more extravagant holidays!

"Should" no of course not, nice to have and a priority for us absolutely, one of the (many, to be fair) reasons we stopped at 2 children was because holidays abroad are important for us and we'd have been much more restricted with 3.

You seem to have the opinion that if you’ve visited a country once as a child, you’ve done it and there’s no point going back again… so I think you might be the one that doesn’t have a very worldly view.

Totally a luxury.