To think holidays with teens/preteens are just rubbish

Bring friends! Go on holiday with friends.

Don't most teens just want wifi no matter where they are? From what my clients tell me, unless they are going to do something on holiday that the kids are obsessed with then they are pretty hard to please and just want to be on devices.

I hadn't really thought about mums who want a holiday because they don't get to enjoy one with their teenagers. You may want to join one of my solo holidays - which initially I created for single friends and solo parents who want a holiday when they don't have the kids!

At dinner last night DC16 asked what our top holiday destinations for 2025 are. DC16 and DC13 have been appalling recently - horrible to each other, extremely difficult, messy, disrespectful, generally argumentative/moody. I cheerfully replied that I couldn’t possibly answer as DH and I had rather assumed all holidays were off the cards given they couldn’t get along together and so we were getting our heads around making the most of staycation opportunities. Absolute silence. Food for thought though, eh? Pass the salt please!

( I have thought about it. It’s a tucked away villa near the sea in either Crete or Kefalonia. Just me and DH. Out of season so won’t cost me another mortgage. Seemed churlish to mention that, though. And a waste of a good opportunity to plant the seed that holidays are not guaranteed, especially if you are behaving like dicks)

Oh yes I can relate to this totally
Four teens here and all we have is moaning
Do we have to
How long for
Why didn't you ask
Not today surely
Not again
No
Not now, later
Boring
Why do we always have to...
So what I do now is prebook things, eg buy tickets and generally do guided/prepaid/bookable activities, put thrm on a family chat and say 'these sre things I want to do/I have booked' and of you want to do something happy to add. Doesn't always work but they at least know it's happening
Also bringing a friend on holiday... they seem to not moan as much
It is hard work though

The Big Sheep? Fabulous place .

I have good memories of our low budget family holidays growing up and loved the cultural visits. I especially liked things like cheese farms or sheep activity centres or castles or things like that. I was easy to please! Even as an older teen. Canoeing was a treat.

My dh and I both love museums, country houses, zoos... all sorts and we take our little one so hopefully she inherits our genes and doesn't become blasee.

DS was never an issue but he really loves food so going out to dinner every day made him very happy. I appreciate there is a cost involved in that. He also loves swimming so there was also a lot of that featured and like me he will also go in when it’s cold. DH won’t, I have been swimming in the sea when it’s been snowing. DS has inherited a high internal furnace from me.They also used to build amazing sand sculptures, to the point people would come over and would joke about charging. We had a UK holiday last year and his GF came, we were in the sea and DH and DS GF were rolling their eyes on the beach.

Best was when he was 16 and then 17 and we did cruises each year. He loved the unlimited food and using the gym.

We did this once it worked really well

Go with friends. Theirs and yours.

@shudawudacuda
What campsite did you stay at ??

@ExtrovertedIntrovert1 looked the best? What teen looks their best? It was all puppy fat, acne, greasy hair, features that didn't fit my face yet, bad makeup
It's all been up since then 😂

It could just be a personality/can't cope well with change of routine etc thing. On one of the threads, I pointed out that in the 70's only a tiny percentage of primary aged children would be taken to restaurants of an evening and also on planes. The majority of children's holiday in Liverpool was Colomendy with the school, a ferry to the isle of man and community organised coach trips. The adults would leave us to it and be smoking etc away from us. At the ages quoted on these threads, we'd be off on our own and take younger children with us. Even today the majority of children aren't taken on abroad holidays.

Oh no, we're away for 3 weeks. You're putting the fear of God into me!

Last holiday the preteen slept lots, didn't want to watch the entertainment. We let him go back to the room when he didn't and carried on the nice time without him.

He also was very body conscious. Luckily I had packed a rash top otherwise I'm not convinced he would have gone in the pool. Must remember to buy another one this weekend!

We're self catering this time in a small town abroad. Not planning on eating out much which will cause drama. If they're moping around the house dh and I will leave them to it sounds the best way.

...or as my 14 yo DD once said to me, "there are no rude and horrible teenagers, just bad parents who don't understand us"

Yeah, she's delulu. There are loads of rude and horrible teenagers.

I have a 9 year old who moans about holidays already. She's so spoiled for holidays it's ridiculous. AI with organised activities that she can take herself off to, has been the way, even though that's not the adults preferred holiday at all. Went last year with my brother and his kids, thinking that would be good for them - they could play together - but mostly they all made other friends.

Have you tried Turkey? Tends to be cheaper. Or fly from Scotland at the end of August, also a full 14 nights can be better value.

years ago I took mine on holiday and my then 14 year old literally went to bed for the week and watched TV and gamed
I was pulling my hair out
now he lives in NZ and I wish I could still have a week of him on holiday even if he was in bed !

I hear you and have decided no more holidays. Even low cost ones cost a fortune. They don’t enjoy them and so I don’t enjoy them. The money I save will go towards school trips. It is such a shame because when they were little I looked forward to exploring with them. They are old enough to do that but have no interest.

My kids have never been like that, but if they were, when you're offering to do nice stuff for them and they didn't come up with any ideas, I'd just carry on and ignore any complaints. If you can't please them, you may as well please yourself.

That said eldest enjoyed Spain and being allowed in the bar/restaurants late at night.

Our best holidays with teens were Copenhagen and Amsterdam, Berlin as they enjoy the unfamiliar I suppose, liked cycling and they both like taking photos on proper cameras so there is more of interest in these places.

Could you get a surf lesson?

I remember these painful years!

Haven’t tried Neilson but we did do Mark Warners once and DC1 participating in watersports bagged us our own legendary “Veniceface” pic…

Neilson is what you need