Would this be too much for your young kids ?

Ours would be fine, our 2.5 year olds last 17 days on holiday looked fairly similar.

DD is 6 and was up until 10 last night as a rare one off. She has a tummy ache today and is pretty exhausted and weepy – we had to leave a soft play party early! Some kids just really can’t handle late nights whereas others are fine, just the same as adults. I don’t think it’s the level of activity, it’s the lack of sleep.

I'm not convinced that everyone who claims that their own DC "just slotted in" is being truthful or has accurate memories.

Mine are 4 and 18 months. Late bedtimes for them are 9pm (like on holiday). Any later, they'd just be exhausted and grumpy.
Only once were they up later. My sister's wedding. They went to bed around 11pm which was midnight for their body clocks (we live an hour ahead of the UK). My eldest threw up in his sleep just from exhaustion. So we have to watch he's not being pushed too far...

@Ponoka7

Children got smacked legs, it's why we behaved.

What an absolute load of rubbish. You don’t abuse your children into behaving. My son is autistic and you could beat him black and blue; it wouldn’t make any difference to his behaviour.

You need to be a better person. My parents constantly hit us. The only thing that happened is that we all hate them now that we’re adults.

It’s stupid, non emotionally available parents like you who decided that children need to stay up late to suit their schedule, instead of realising that they need to make sacrifices for their own children. Selfish, selfish people.

That sounds absolutely fine. There are more rigid parents who stick to their schedule at home pretty much on holiday too so you will get hugely varied responses and all are valid for their family. My kids would change for holidays and sleep in or nap during the day poolside etc or if very young nap in buggies while we were still out, if they needed to. If not then still up enjoying the night, fairs, trampolines etc. There’s nothing wrong with any choice as long as you recognise what your child needs at any time but there are often ways of helping them get the most out of a family holiday that means everyone can enjoy themselves.

Times were different then OP. Children had to fit in with what the adults did, were less pandered to and tears were for being hurt, very upset or something important. Whinging wasn’t tolerated and if it started it got the hard stare, not cuddles. The word NO was used much more.

That doesn't sound like enough sleep. By at least a couple of hours a day.

Missing a couple of hours sleep a day isn't going to kill anyone, like lots of things they used to do in the past that we don't do now.

And since it didn't kill anyone, lots of parents grandparents or others will say "oh it was fine we used to smoke in the house around our kids, deprive them of sleep, play loud music when they slept, make them sleep in brightly lit rooms, never wear seatbelts, give Guinness to five year olds" blah blah blah "and they turned out fine!" as if the fact they're ok means it didn't cause any harm.

It's the stupidest argument I've ever heard, lacking even the most basic understanding of how the world works and yet the most common one I hear.

Don't be drawn in by this rubbish. Just because it didn't kill you it doesn't by a long way mean you wouldn't have been better off if they had let you have more sleep. They simply have no retrospective way to test this other than to look for gross gross signs of negligence like did you die as a result. Sigh.

It doesn't sound a lot to me at all. Loads of downtime and naps, I don't understand. Personally my kids don't cope with hours at home, it causes built up energy and fighting.

The late nights would have been awful for mine as would 9 hours sleep, my 9 year old wouldn’t cope with that schedule either.

My DS would have been OK with day 1, but would have been self combusting by day 3. He was (is) ND and a basic routine was (is) important. As was his bed, and at that age he slept for 11 hours normally but could often do 12 or 13 hours after a busy day.

I had to factor in regular "do nothing days" otherwise he would be a hyper nightmare.

Do less with them then. Sounds exhausting to me.

Mine wouldn’t have coped with such late nights and short nights’ sleep at that age. It’s fine to expect them to slot in to an extent but of course they’re going to get tired and grumpy and I if you push them too far it’s gonna be a bad time for all.

The day activities look great. For me it's the lack of sleep and late nights that would cause problems.

At their ages, I’d expect they’d need 11-12 hours of sleep plus a nap for a the little one.

I think that’s a lot for their ages. Ok occasionally but I know there would definitely have been tears/tantrums from my kids if we tried to do full on days like that everyday.

My kids would not cope with that AT ALL. We would have had meltdowns galore with that amount of activity and that little sleep. To my mind it's insane!!!!

My kids behaviour would be awful if i did that. They'd be exhausted and they are older than yours are.

My kids behaviour would be awful if i did that. They'd be exhausted and they are older than yours are.

That's what holidays were like with my dd when she was little, but we travelled a lot with her so she was used to it! She just happily slotted in with our schedule so we were quite lucky I think. She was an easy going child so I appreciate this wouldn't work for everyone!

She's a happy, healthy 16yo now so it doesn't seem to have done her any harm.

Just got back from holiday with an almost 4 year old and a 1 year old. They wouldn’t have coped with that schedule at all. We were in a villa so private pool but after the first day (20 minute walk to resort centre then beach) we scaled right back and spent most of the time in the villa working around pretty much their normal routine. It was a lot less stressful that way. Latest bedtime was 9pm and I was fully aware how unhappy they were with that. It was a one off.

That’s super late!
we are away now and it’s awake at 7, breakfast at 830… pool/beach for 10/11.. lunch around 1 then back to pool or beach then back to room for 530.. dinner for 7 and back to room by 930/10. My son is nearly 6 and I want him asleep by 1030 latest!