It's a holiday and the usual rules don't apply?

Kind of. We allow more treats / ice creams and later bedtimes. We don't allow unlimited screens tho - a bit before breakfast (so we can have a lie in) and a bit after lunch to chill out away from the sun. We are gojng away with a big group this year and some of them are way more relaxed about screens tho so inevitably ours will end up watching more than usual but not gojng to stress about it

I certainly relax my eating / drinking. I don't eat carbs at home but will be eating some pizza and pasta in italy, and will drink cocktails or wine most days

Oh and it also varies about what sort of holiday you are on - all inclusive hotel in the sun- help yourself to pudding after lunch and dinner and maybe an icecream mid afternoon.

self catering, I wouldn’t always buy cakes and treats to have dessert after every meal. But if you are eating out at restaurants each night then more likely to let dcs order whatever they want.

When we are away on holiday, rules are very relaxed. But then I don’t have wine every night with dinner normally but will when at a hotel /restaurant every night.

off school holidays, then rules are relaxed a bit, more screen time, later getting up and bedtime, but not completely out of the window.

@Ojjjjnv - did you go away for the whole summer? Not spend any time at home? Most people in the uk go away for one or two weeks of the summer and the rest of the school holidays are at home. The different rules are usually over the travelling part, not the being at home off school part.

when we go away for a week on holiday, we relax the rules. Not sure if it is a class thing or why that would be the case though

mine are allowed ice cream on holiday if they want it. They can have pancakes for breakfast and burger for tea. They spend a week on holiday non stop swimming and playing so I don’t mind them eating a bit more crap for a week

Two would only really happen if they had one as a BB snack then chose one as pudding when having dinner.

I think that's exactly when two happens! Sun holiday, ice-cream by the pool in the afternoon, and then one for dessert after dinner.

Less likely on other types of holiday, but I think an ice-cream on a day trip and then dessert after dinner wouldn't be unusual.

If he kids are off school but we are at home (most people don't go on holiday the full 6 weeks of summer wtc) theb yes, rules apply. We do still do some learning and homework each day, restrict treats.
If however we go away in a holiday for. Week or 2 then rules are broken for all. We expect to have a proper break and tike for treats.

Our children go to bed late on holiday - basically whenever we do. But otherwise it's pretty much normal! They tend to eat less due to the heat anyway but they will have an ice cream each day. That's similar at home though. If we have ice creams in they can have them. Once they're gone, they're gone!

I also grew up in a country with a long summer, but for us it was very relaxed and I had a lot of freedom. I remember spending a lot of time reading whilst lying on the patio or the beach.

I was surprised on the other thread how many people thought one ice cream a day was mean.

I mean, my DC don't normally have an ice cream every day, so one a day on holiday is a treat. My two oldest are adults and they wouldn't see that as being mean even though they could pay for it themselves now.

We've holidayed with various families over the years and I can't think of any who would have been regularly having more than one. Two would only really happen if they had one as a snack then chose one as pudding when having dinner.

In answer to the original question. It depends on the family and the DC. We don't tend to be very restrictive, so we don't relax much. Later bedtime, fizzy drink with dinner, type things.

But it also depends on the children. I have one who has always self regulated herself well. It would be very easy with her to say we threw all rules out for the holidays because she'd have kept herself fairly close to normal. When we got home she'd have gone straight back to normal rules without a blink.
I have another who would have been up to 2am, only eaten chocolate and would have been very grotty tempered. We'd also have had several weeks of "but why can't I? I was fine on holiday..."
And my last who loves the idea of getting out of routine, but hates the reality (he's got ASD) so would have tried to keep up with his sisters but would become very miserable until he put himself back into routine

Kids generally need and thrive having some sort of routine and boundaries.

Relaxing the rules during holidays is fine but they still need something in place.

My kids are allowed as much screen time as they want BUT... only if they've earned it doing like-for-like minutes of "educational" activities (reading, music practice, duolingo, sport etc...). The kids love this rule and collect "tokens" to put in a screen time pot!

On actual holiday we relax a bit, we do self catering in the UK though so it's not wildly different from being at home! They go to bed later and definitely have more ice cream but probably less screen time because we tend to do active things on holiday.

During the summer holidays they probably go to bed/get up later but so do I when I'm off work. Otherwise it's much the same except with no homework.

Our rules get relaxed on holiday.

They have more juice / soft drinks than usual, but I'd rather they stay hydrated in the heat.

Less insistence on eating their vegetables, as they seem to be more fussy about Mediterranean vegetables (madness in my view - surely grilled aubergine & courgette with salt and olive oil is the best veg side ever!)

Computer games on the plane. They are rarely allowed to play at home, as they get addicted really easily (they are still quite young).

Ice cream every day, and sometimes two (e.g. if they bring a free one with dinner)

A bit later bedtime but not loads (we still need some adult time!)

No rules as I also follow no rules on holiday for myself so I will eat and drink what I want when I want. Also it's a holiday I don't want the arguments over things that really don't matter when your talking a week out of a whole year. Like at home I would never let the kids have tablets at the dinner table as on holiday I want a relaxed evening so if their occupied then I can relax. At home they have bed times, on holiday they don't. On holiday they can eat and drink what they like at home they can't.

We never really had food rules when DS was small. We had sensible things like try everything you are offered at mealtimes, one of each thing fir snacks (one of each type of fruit, one yogurt, one biscuit or cake, one packet of crisps, etc)
Fizzy pop was a weekend or meal out treat, but fill your boots on AI holidays, same with ice cream and desserts and snacks (at home, we have Magnum type and ice pops in the freezer)

Holidays are fun, so yes, we all eat and drink very differently than at home, but rules around food are not my thing.

He's 16 now, and I have little idea what he eats in the day when I'm at work. I do know they went to Greggs yesterday

No ice-cream for a week on holiday sounds a bit sad to me, I have to say. Having a few dotted throughout the holiday isn't going mad in my opinion.

We won't "go crazy" although we will eat out more, the kids will have an ice cream most days and bedtimes may be slightly later. We all want to enjoy ourselves and will do whatever results in a fun, memorable holiday.

The rest of the summer break from school involves kids camps and grandparents. Some normality and some fun.

The only exception is flights and long car journeys. We do whatever we need to do to get through it, throw money and treats at the situation. Eg those £6.99 kids' magazines, "unlimited" Netflix Kids time.

Oh, I was referring to being on holiday. For the school summer holidays (two months here), rules around screen time and food relax very slightly but only a little - wouldn't remove them for two months obviously.

We have similar rules to normal but we don't have strict routines anyway. For example bedtime is always fluid depending on how tired everyone is.

If anything I've found dd "needs" fewer sweet treats on holiday because she's having more fun. You don't need an ice lolly to cool down when you can just jump into a pool!

Rules are definitely relaxed on holidays. No restrictions on ice-cream or other treat food, but we do encourage fruit to keep things moving. Once home they return to the usual diet without issue.

Screen time we're pretty strict on at home. The plane is the only place 4yo has had a tablet, and same for the 6yo except for apps recommended by school. But on holidays they'll get TV daily while we're in the room.

Bedtimes relaxed too, but mine will sleep late if they're up late so that's a positive for all of us.

Likewise, I'll have a few drinks throughout the day and evening, and have an ice-cream in the afternoon and often dessert after dinner too. It's a holiday and we're all more relaxed.

(Irish middle class, if you're looking to categorise.)

When I was growing up, rules were definitely relaxed but it wasn't a free for all.

So, later bedtimes, more screen time and probably more treats, but equally I still had to keep my room tidy, wash the dishes and stay fairly active.

I'm sure some people will disagree but I think lots of child thrive on some kind of routine, and throwing it all up in the air for six weeks can cause issues when schools go back and they're expected to go back to normal overnight.

Most of us don't get 3 months holidays sk for the one week we get in Spain or similar, we day drink, the kids get extra screen time and ice creams.

Mine are teens so it's pretty much a free-for-all.

Mine were always quite good at self-regulation with ice creams and stuff like that when they were little, and quite amenable to a 'no', but yes we were a bit more strict when they were little.

Rules do not apply, and if abroad smoking is ‘ok’ as long as you hide from the kids! 😎

I only ever had rules that related to health and safety and not causing a nuisance to other people. Those things mattered as much on holiday as when not, so couldn't be relaxed. For example, if I thought chocolate for breakfast every day wasn't a good idea for health, I wouldn't change my mind because it wasn't a school day. I'm English and working class if that helps.