"Holiday" with toddlers

I always enjoy taking my dcs on holiday but I'm a sahm so I'm used to having them all day. Holidays are a bit easier for me as we always go away with DH so there are 2 of us rather than just me. And we have a bigger age gap so I've only got one toddler and a primary aged child. I do find holidays tiring but our weekends and days are always active anyway and we thrive on lots of adventures as a family. This year we've done Florida, Legoland, Alton Towers and Center Parcs, and we've got Cornwall and Belgium later this year.

i do agree to some extent. When you have one child you tend to think you are creating a lot more of their behaviour than you are. That said I don’t think it’s about how chilled the kids are, more what you are expecting it to be like.

You have confirmed my hypothesis.

we have 2 under 3 we are doing a week in Norfolk later this year and honestly that’s my limit.

Yes @TomeTome but I'm not sure that the PP needed to give the rest of us a monologue on how we were doing it wrong, whereas she had got it right. Some people are lucky to have chilled kids that adapt and can be taken anywhere. No hassle. that's not necessarily the norm though and It's sheer bloody luck not superior parenting whatever we may like to tell ourselves!

We are going away this week with our 3 year old. I have absolutely no expectation that I will be able to relax or have anything resembling a holiday like I had pre child. I know at no point will I be able to sit and enjoy a cocktail at sunset or lay by a pool. I’m not expecting her to be grateful or even excited. I am looking forward to spending time with her, and making some memories for me. We’ve applied the same logic to UK breaks and it’s always seemed to work well. Just adding in the added stress factor of the heat!

I had 5, so I don’t think it’s that she has a single. Different people like different things.

These threads seem to crop up weekly on MN and I honestly don't get it.
We have full on very intense jobs, juggle nursery/school/clubs/Hobbies/friends and family.
Holidays are absolutely bliss in comparison! We have DS6 and DD3 so full on used to toddler trips and it's been the absolute favourite times of my life. Have never used kids clubs as work long hours so family trips are to have fun together.
We've done Mallorca, Menorca, Salou, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Disneyland Paris x 4, CenterParcs x 4, lots and lots of weekend breaks and caravans. It's literally my reason for working. We have Florida booked this year for their first long haul. Can honestly say I've never experienced anything negative about holidays (usual niggles of course).

I wouldn't do a sun holiday with toddlers, too stressful. My kids HATE being hot so are miserable and they barely have a pigment between them so I have to jetwash them in sunblock every couple of hours.

Quite a few posters here said they had successful holidays abroad with 1 child- 2 parents and 1 child (so you get a break if the other person has them / they are napping etc) is VERY different to 2 + children dragging you in different directions (literally!), waking each other up, wanting different food, bickering etc etc, even with 2 adults it’s mentally and physically exhausting when they are younger

I get it. OH and I take young GC x 4 away every year for a UK beach and caravan holiday. Usually quite hard work, but fine. Last year we went to Greece. It was a nightmare and I'm still traumatised. I've said never again abroad until they're a lot older

Oh and it doesn't last long. By the time they are 4&6 etc we did long haul sun & all had a great time.

For me at that age i was working and really missed them so the "holiday" was just the being with them and enjoying them, and being off work.

We focussed on making it easy - went to places like center parcs to minimise long journeys, did lots of easy meals/meals out so no cooking to think about - and easy familiar food options so no stressful meal times. In CP they totally cater for a "make it easy with a toddler" mindset - soft plays in restaurants, crayons and colouring sheets provided, really good toddler area in pool etc.

Having simple, realistic expectations is key. Its time away from:

• work
• your own messy house
• having to cook all the meals

...but not time off from parenting a toddler.

We did UK holidays after one pointless all inclusive abroad. Cornwall. Lakes. Norfolk. Beach. Self catering. We took parents so we shared the kids, they had time with their grandkids and we had some time off. A nice meal somewhere fancy to make it feel like a holiday.

Now they're 7 and 9 we're backpacking and doing proper travel like we used to.

Love it. They're so much fun to explore with.

But we have never been all inclusive, resort types.

If you want down time, you either need somewhere with kids clubs or take it in turns

At that age Neilson holidays are amazing because of the kids clubs. Even an hour a day is worth it to actually recharge, DS is 10 and still enjoys a kids club for a few hours of organised fun.

Doesn’t matter if they don’t remember any of it. I always find that a strange viewpoint. The point is how enjoyable it is at the time and that keeps a positive emotion that will stay with them even if they don’t remember it. My DD loves baby sensory but won’t remember it - I still do it because she enjoys it now!

We learnt that AI with a kids club works best for our toddler and preschooler. It's definitely something we are new to and needed somewhere with a good number of dining options for us but it worked well. We could spend most of the day in the pools then youngest would have a nap in the afternoon and they were both so knackered after the kids entertainment that they fell asleep in 10 minutes!

Compared to the stress of doing our usual and self catering it was blissful so think this will be us til youngest is at least 6.

I disagree that they don't remember any of it. My just turned 3 year old is very chatty and we returned home from a break over Easter. She has brought up things from the holiday a few times since we were back, particularly animals she saw for the first time in the zoo. She also took a bit of a tumble from the climbing frame and has become quite nervy now with climbing where she wasn't before- unfortunately that has also gone into her long term memory!

On a serious note though I'm sure the memories will fade but that feeling of happy times with all her family together must remain. We gave up on the pool sunlounger type holidays when our first was little though as it wasn't relaxing with young ones, and now prioritise day day exploring type trips from a hotel base with hotel swimming in the evenings.

Yanbu.
holidays with young kids are exhausting and stressful.
i think of it as “a change is almost as good as a rest” and doing it helps them to build up to managing holidays better as they get older.

I was thinking this!

My kids are the same age (slightly older) and after a vastly expensive and disastrous week at Sani we decided to stick to staycations for a few years. We now either do Centerparcs or AirBnBs, a maximum of 60 minutes drive from us. We call them "same shit different shovel" holidays

A washing machine, separate bedrooms and at least one kids' TV channel are all essential in my book. Otherwise we'd be better off staying at home.

@lpylou ah bless you. It's very easy with one as we all know but the OP has two with a small age gap, different ball game.

Definitely hard work but I still enjoyed holidays with my now 6 year old. We've done lots of trips away. You Definitely have to lower your expectations though. He loves kids clubs with being an only child, so somewhere with a good kids club is a bonus

We loved holiday with our toddlers but we plannd around their need 90% of the time. And did had high expertations. We did great.
We have done farms, city breaks, country stays, sun & beach - all kind of holidays.
We did toddler holidays twice as 3rd child is much younger than 1st and 2nd.

For anyone interested in our successful 10 day holiday with 18 month DS, here is why:

Entertainment - kids activities we took him to, kids club we took him to ourselves and supervised him, resort had option of babysitter which we hired twice for 3 hours each time to play with him in kids club so we could go to spa.

Naps - had 2 hours a day of naps, sometimes a long lunch nap and sometimes back to two naps as he was so overstimulated he got over tired, fast.

Routine - did away with it and just followed DS lead so he didn't get over tired, was all inclusive so we ate as and when.

Teamwork - one day I woke up having had awful sleep, after lunch DH took DS and I went for a nap on the beach and vice versa when DH went to gym.

Getting stuck in - the best way to parent on holiday is to become a child, was happy playing in the kids club with him, reading stories, playing sandcastles and swimming. As soon as I tried to sit on my phone, I was frustrated as he would run off.

No rules - when I did want to have a time out the iPad came out, more often than not towards the end. Lenient on food - don't we all do that away? DS had pizza or soup everyday for lunch and chips for dinner. Also came into our bed most nights. None of this flies at home.

We had a great time and there were lots of toddlers on the flight and at the resort!