1 child families + holidays + I don’t want to watch your kids

Look at the bright side: you are blessed with very kind and likable kids.

This thread is really quite nasty. I don't think people should view things so black and white.

It would like me saying people with 1 child can focus 1 to 1 (which is true). Whilst those with 2+ kids just let their kids run riot on holiday as they can't be giving each child the same amount of attention like you would with just 1 child.

Imagine an 8 year old going on holiday with their parents wanting to have someone of their own age to play with AND their parents not actively discouraging them to do this?!

Definitely works both ways. Am an only child and my parents always had lots of activities for me on holidays, always found others, especially those with siblings trying to attach themselves to us and those parents often trying to palm them off.

Sorry got carried away there. They still make my blood boil when I think of them and the poor little girl who got hit in the nose

All they needed to do was buy one of the soft balls everyone else was using and not expect to have the whole pool to themselves.

Mind you when I saw his kids trying to climb on the stage during the evening entertainment and screaming at one of the singers that she was rubbish- and the parents just letting them I realised how entitled the whole family was. They actually had to stop the entertainment and ask for the parents to remove the kids. The parents grabbed them and stormed out. They did a lot of storming that holiday. I was praying they were not on the plane on the way home.

They also tried to steal my son’s inflatable and were walking off with it towards the rooms. My husband gladly stepped in. I did not mind kids borrowing it when my son was not using it but the dad just grabbed it and marched off with it. Plus one of them shouted you are ugly loser to my son when the animation team where singing happy birthday to him- lovely family

4 kids is the perfect team, they play pool volleyball together but then you have another kid wanting to circle in which means I have to referee one of my kids taking a turn out of their family game?

please tell me you are not one of these families that hogs the whole pool. We had one of those the last holiday we went on: it was a small resort so only 2 pools. The dad and 3 kids totally took over one of the pools playing volleyball and the dad actually told other kids to go away!!!!

The dad got told by the lifeguard he could not stop others getting in the pool. So they then were huffing and puffing trying to play volleyball around loads of kids.

No one was trying to join in they just wanted to be able to use the pool. A kid then got smacked by the ball in the nose (it was not a soft one) there was blood all over and the pool had to close.

The next day the dad and 3 kids tried it again only for the lifeguard to ask them to stop playing with the harder ball. They all stropped off. They tried it again the next day- again got told. Then again that same afternoon- got told if they tried it again they would be banned from the pool. Was half hoping they would try it again.

I don't know, maybe... watch their own damn kid and not roll over and read a book. I am a single mom of a special needs toddler. I never get a break. I would NEVER turn my back on my kiddo (even when he's older) just because he's playing with other kids and expect someone else, especially a stranger, to watch MY child!

@Theseers I am stunned at the responses and only read a few.

I too single parent and my 3 are now teens and bloody hated it when another kid attached themselves to us. It is nothing to do with being exclusionary it is to do with the fact that I am bringing my kids on holiday alone and we are all taking time off work and school and to bond and have fun together. I am and was never there for other parents kids to be entertained, my kids were fine entertaining themselves and we prefered it that way as at home there would be always someone else around like the kids pals or school friends or family etc. When we went away we wanted time as a family and not to be having hangers on. Absolutely not my issue if someone elses kids are lonely or the parents need adult time. Think of that before you go away and dont expect others to entertain nor parent your little darling on your behalf. Fuck that like.

I am confused. You don’t have to watch a kid just because they play with yours. Kids befriend other kids on holidays. It’s nice. So long as your kids are also enjoying playing with these kids I don’t see the problem. You don’t need to take it upon yourself to watch them. Some parents are more relaxed about keeping an eye on kids (my parents were like this; I am not), it doesn’t mean they expect you to watch the kid for them.

That's different though to the OP's position as I understand it. In her case, the parents are present, just not attentive - they're reading a book or whatever. She doesn't have to take any particular responsibility for other people's kids. Presumably if she's responsibly looking out for her own kids she'd see if the new kid was in any sort of trouble and, if they hadn't noticed, she or anybody else who noticed it would alert their inattentive parents who would take responsibility of the situation. But that would apply to anybody with any child in trouble at the beach/pool. I don't understand why she feels that she had to do anything other than look out for her own kids.

YABU. VVVVVU. Mean, in fact. The poor kid just wants to play with other kids.

I agree. I'm not really clear on what the objection is here. 🤔

I was always that child on holiday absolutely desperate to make friends. I was one of 3 children all close together in age. My brothers had zero interest in making friends, maybe they had one another or just more shy by nature, both are true. I was extrovert and made it my mission to make a friend each holiday. My mum and dad were lazy. So maybe lazy parents breed attention seeking children. I sure as hell wasn't going to get stimulation hanging around mum half drunk on her subbed or my mute Dad, oh and they hated each other too.

I feel so sad about this! As an only child growing up in a rural location, holidays were an exciting opportunity for me to make a new friend. I’d have been devastated if I’d have known that other families felt like this.

I love seeing my children make friends on holiday, the more the merrier as long as they are nice!

This is happening to us more and more as my children get older. I'm a single parent with 2 children who play together really well. My eldest in particular seems to attract children who are perhaps a bit younger and aren't sure what to play. As such a lot of children come over and want to join in with a game, particularly single children who are with a large group of adults, because presumably the adults just want to have a grown up conversation and the child gets bored.

I don't mind at all as long as the child is polite and doesn't try to take over the game. My two no doubt get sick of each other all day every day during the holidays and having another playmate helps mix things up a bit.

What DOES annoy me though is when the child is considerably younger than my own and their parents are nowhere to be seen. My two are 9 and 6, if I wanted to look after a toddler too, I'd have had a third child. It's not up to me to look after a 2 year old because you're tired from parenting them all day. I've done that part already! It reminds me of the first time I took ds1 to a party without ds2, who was a baby at the time - it felt absolutely blissful finally having some time with just ds1 - only to be given a baby to hold as soon as we arrived because "you've just got one with you today".

We have only one child and have found that many larger families liked to leave their children to play with ours, probably thinking we had more time since we only have the one. It works both ways.

I had this on a camp site. Set up a cricket match and we were all playing and more kids started joining. That's OK but their parents pulled their chairs up to watch while I was running round to keep the game going. How rude!

You expect the parent to WATCH their child from their sunbed, not roll over and read a book.

Its totally normal for kids to make friends on holiday. It not normal for a family to be so insular that the mum does not want her kids interacting with kids. I i 5 kids and loved them making friends on holiday, you actually sound horrendous and dont actually want to look after your own kids hence having 4 so they could look after each other

I have one child and this happens, they make friends and I watch them both (sometimes more than one). I'm delighted when she makes friends though I appreciate it's a bit different having 4 to start with - but your only option other than venting is to either accept it or address the parents with it.

I feel like this is deliberately targeting only child families.. It's not how many kids they have it's the irresponsible parents who don't want to look after their own dc.
Regardless I have an only child and we always make sure take turns playing/relaxing with ds on holiday so one parent gets a break. We do child oriented things like going to the beach where they can entertain themselves a bit making sandcastles etc. Luckily he'd rather play with people he knows than join in a random group.

I don't think it's a big deal if a child joins in another group activity for half an hour but I would expect their own family to be watching them and also if I wanted to leave I would just go and not allow them to tag along. You can kind of get a feeling if people are happy to accommodate or uncomfortable.
You have every right to be annoyed but don't lump us all in the same group..

Agree. Mine were prob 8 and 12 and I remember the girl was around 12. Mine included her at pool but I do find some parents have 0 boundaries. She have come to apartment for food too lol. Mothers head stuck in her book.

i assume it was clear to the op that the parent wasn’t watching. If you aren’t watching you aren’t supervising when it’s a pool.

Agree