Just want to go home

We had the best time at Disney Paris though as so much to do and the kids short attention spans are accommodated!

Agreed! This is why we go to theme parks. The best thing about Port Aventura on-site hotels was that you could get in early, do rides until lunch, go back and have a swim, then go back for more rides/parade. It wasn't just rides - there were playgrounds/train etc. too. I feel like you could amuse a family of ages 4-14 pretty easily.

I personally love a beach but with toddlers unless we were staying nearby found it a pain to rinse them off as soon as I got the 1 yr old clean and went to rinse the 3 yr old the 1yr old would be sandy again! We just went to a lovely apartment with a heated pool and next to the beach which was the best of both as could do beach in afternoon after the pool. With naps I always kept close to the same schedule and if needed it would be a walk in the pram but we took black out and white noise and made sure full tummy’s before.

As others said we take turns to have kids or relax for a few hours each day so means some time for an actual rest. I would go and buy a paddling pool and maybe put it in the shade and let toddler play in that if they don’t want to get dressed and play in the pool. My kids are older now so 3 and 5, but cups in a paddling pool still entertains. We had the best time at Disney Paris though as so much to do and the kids short attention spans are accommodated!

It's a towel not a tenancy agreement. I give a towel 10 minutes and if there's not someone obviously using that space I carefully put it somewhere else and make myself comfortable.

That. If they return and complain, say that you know nothing, pool staff must have removed the towels - look, here's a sign that sun loungers can't be reserved!

Love that! And feign ignorance if they come over all pissed off 😂

Is there anywhere you can get a little UV tent from?? Maybe ask the hotel reception. It’s a godsend on hot days at the beach for us. I recommend uk caravan type holidays with really little kids or even camping! Or eurocamp to go abroad. Resort style would be my worst nightmare unless at a cooler time of year.

Holidays with a beach are absolute hell with very small children and, unfortunately, the days of carefree hols are gone once you have children. It is constant vigilance. Also, any evening activity has to include them otherwise you don't have an evening activity. Better to hire a cottage near home, self-cater and go out for manageable day trips. Come home with a take-away or make a simple meal, with a bottle of wine. More peaceful all round.

Oh dear OP! I feel your pain. First holiday with kids is invariably crap - lots of people having a great time around you whilst you fret about shade and childcare. Best you can hope for, in my experience, is divide and conquer with your partner. Aim to have an hour in the sun every day alone and give him the same. Then back to the relentless grindstone, but with the added bonus of smoking strangers and the burning sun. Good luck. Book a girls trip. That's your holiday now lol! And a nice stay cation for the family from now on xx 😘

Go on easy UK holidays until they are much older - if they are in the UK you can just go home if it is all too much, sometimes it is nice just knowing you have this option, even if you don't take it, sometimes I enjoy going home after 6 days rather staying the full 7 if I have done everything I want and could do with my own bed, clean clothes etc.
I remember 'could not should' about holidays, even with regard to taking one in the first place. It's a money-making industry, they are not selling a tangible or realistic dream or doing anyone a favour. so chances are they will be selling you short in some respect.
Plus bad stuff happens on holiday just the same as in your normal life. Kids get sick, cars break down etc. There is no obligation to stick it out.
As people on MN often say about holidays with little kids: same shit different location.

I loved our UK holidays when mine were little. Even if it rained there were always museums, soft play etc. It's so much easier to deal with the stresses of toddlers/pre-schoolers when you're in your home country.

Worse holiday I ever had was with a 1 and 2 year old. No one slept, no-one could do what they wanted to do, everyone was ill with horrendous colds, the whole holiday was a miserable battle! I just wanted to go home too, and it was barely a week long! But we survived and I can almost laugh about it now (it was 10 years ago!). You'll get through it and at least you know what does and doesn't work now. So sorry you're having a hard time, good luck with the rest of it.

It’s a bad age for holidays. I remember going with dd when she was one. We didn’t go again til she was nearly 5!

It's a towel not a tenancy agreement. I give a towel 10 minutes and if there's not someone obviously using that space I carefully put it somewhere else and make myself comfortable.

@TheBirdintheCave Same here. I've gt a 5 year old and 1 year old and love going on holiday with them. Usually DH and I work demanding full-time jobs, so being able to have a leisurely breakfast and mooch about in our pyjamas is totaly bliss compared to being up at 6:15 and shocing everyone out of the door by 8am.

@holly201 Sorry it's not going well, it sounds like you have a hotel problem. I would definately complain and see if you can get moved to a better room. Also, I'd pick my battles with your DD. We toom our kids across 3 dfferent times zones back in April and I just had to let go of routine, fed them snacks whenever they were hungry and if they didn't nap, they just had quiet time.

Can’t say we’ve had issues with the kids on holiday - all ours have loved it. For parents it is just parenting somewhere else though but generally at least it’s warmer and sunnier (than the uk anyway!).
however our most recent holiday was disappointing standards wise - not the 5* we had paid for. Take pictures, complain to your travel agent with these and upload reviews asap, it might not do much but will get it out of your system a bit.

We took Dd who was nust 1 to France in a cottage with family.

Homestly it was great. Sat her in a little paddling pool at the side of the swimming pool or her cousins ( much older) looked after her in the pool.

Mild but not boiling. She ate mainly baguettes.

My first holiday with a baby was exactly the same. I couldn’t wait to go home. After that we didn’t go away for 2 years, then Covid hit. So we had a four year break and didn’t go away again until my children were 4 and 7. Best thing we ever did. It’s far easier now. Relaxing might be pushing it but it’s mildly pleasant now.

I feel like we should have a game of bingo for the first poster that makes this kind of comment on pretty much every thread when OP is looking for support. Are you just trying to make a miserable poster feel worse about themselves?

It's a difficult age to holiday with DC.
Also Greece. I love Greece but unless you pay supremely top price the accommodation is well below the standard you would get in Spain for the same price.

We also did self catering when they were little. It is more work than the gloriousness of hotels/AI but easier to adapt to with minis.

It did leave me totally over self catering holidays though!

We took our kids on a pretty packed road trip round Germany and then another to Jordan when they were both 1 and 3 and it was incredible and they were super well behaved and we have the best time.

Took them to an all inclusive beach holiday (first for all of us) when they were 4 and 2 and it was carnage - throwing cutlery around, not wanting to eat meals, just wanting ice cream, not napping, not wanting to get changed and didn't want to be in the hotel room and if they did, they wanted to jump off furniture and smash the fridge up. I honestly think when they are that young (and depending on your child's personality), the whole all-inclusive is a nightmare as they need distraction and being in a resort did not provide enough distraction. The experience was so far removed from a holiday that I'm planning a big anniversary holiday (including the kids), for later this year and have wiped the Maldives of the list...

We didn't take our first family holiday abroad until DD was 3- partly because she was a 2020 baby- but mostly because of this. It just felt like moving the work to a hotter and less familiar location before that.

I don't have any patience for people thinking they can lay claim to a sunbed all day though. I'd be dropping the towels in the pool. Such a shame how windy it gets sometimes.

Are there any places nearby you can take her to between 11 and 3 to keep her out of the sun and entertained? Kid friendly museums, butterfly houses, those types of things?

So she can go there next year!

I agree...its better to go to butlins till they are 7

We mostly staycationed when the kids were tiny. We both worked full time so spending 24x7 with them was a novelty if not a holiday. We did days out, we did paddling pools in the garden, they had their normal food and bed times and we used the cash saved to do other things including a babysitter several times over the two weeks to go out and have a nice adult evening.
Very small children and heat over 26 degrees is not compatible in my experience. A wellies and bucket and spade experience in the UK, Ireland, Northern France is easier all round. And being able to self cater is definitely easier. You can still go out to eat but you can suit yourself more easily.