To ask if you take your children out alone

It is exhausting isn’t it. Especially on a busy beach. I normally speak to the lifeguards and point out my dc and say that I’m watching them like a hawk but that no one else is so please keep an extra eye. It really helps if they’re in the same neon colour - my best seaside tip!

Yes DH AL is odd, I take the kids on holiday all the time on my own. Skiing, beach trips, 12 hour drives across the country. I do feel a bit bad for DH though who has to stay home and work but the kids and I love it and they get so much out of it.

I do yes - I have DS7 and DD3.

If its both children, its usually with people we know (even if DH is not there) Adult to child ratio is usually 1:2 or 1:1.5 depending on which of my friends we are seeing.

I do 1:1 days out with my DS alot in the holidays. Usually just the two of us for farms, cadbury world, theme parks etc. Depends where the offers are! Its cheaper to do it with just the two of us and DH will take him on a different big day out for his childcare days in the holidays.

It's incredible hard sometimes but I am really organised about it. Have way more than we actually need in the car. All eventualities catered for. Car full of picnic and snacks. All forms of clothing and spares just in case etc. Fuel tank full.

I take mine out when I can, dp comes when he can, 50% of the time I'm by myself with the kids when we have big days out.

I took my dc to the beach on my own when they were very young...I've never been so exhausted! They're teens now and I took them a few months ago...it was a much more relaxing experience!

Ok, the sea is where this was/is hard. I have to be with them, all dressed in neon colours, only at lifeguarded beaches, and if I’m not in the sea with them I have to watch them all the time. That is hard. I do deserve a medal for many, many hours of Devon beach holidays being the only adult in charge of children on the beach/in the sea! Bravo me 🤩

My children are grown up now, but when they were younger, yes, both DH and I were quite happy taking the two of them out solo and regularly did so. Our children weren't allowed to be badly behaved and both DH and I were capable of actively parenting them, so it wasn't really a problem.

Obviously we also did a lot of big days out together, because we both wanted to go and we wanted to spend time together as a family.

I actually find it worrying that anyone would find it difficult or impossible to be in charge of two small children of your own. Obviously if you've got 4+ children or children with significant disabilities then it's a different matter. But in general, 2 children to one adult shouldn't be that hard.

I have a 3 month old and have been taking him for days out alone (while my partner is working) since he was about a week old.

Yes, but I don’t go abroad just me and my DC (8), I think it’s just too risky in case anything goes wrong.

Yes of course.

I find it a strange question to be honest.... wouldn't occur to me not to.

People seem incredulous that you take your two children out on your own? Really? Unless your children have significant SN and/or your days out are hiking in the Himalayas, I’d say that’s really weird.

at least 75% of the places I go to with my (multiple) children, I’m the only adult. The other 25% I’m with friends and their children too. The odd (in both uses of the word) person says things like “you’re so good/brave/amazing to take them to legoland/Devon/Loch Ness”, and I just think WHAT PLANET ARE YOU ON?! They’re just my children. Good grief.

I wouldn’t take them anywhere unsafe without a one to one ratio but I’m struggling to think what that might be in the UK.

And to the PP who avoided cinemas on her own with two children in case one needed a wee, what? You just all run to the loo as fast as you can and run back. No drama.

I actually find it quite frustrating and upsetting when people think I’m “amazing” for things like driving my children to Devon for a holiday. I mean… I know I’m a good mum, but I also don’t have a choice to share the driving with their dad or any other adult so I just do what I have to do. I dunno. It’s not something I’m doing to get a medal. It’s just our life. If I didn’t do things on my own with my children we’d almost never leave the house.

Dd is a single parent so takes dgs on holiday a couple of times a year alone as well as every other adventure he has alone. He's 5 now and has been doing this since he was a baby.

Not to a theme park or waterpark or somewhere where there are different height restrictions as it’s helpful to have another adult otherwise impossible to do many of the rides. Swimming is sometimes mandatory not to be alone with several kids. I probably wouldn’t risk the seaside either as eldest likes to swim in the sea.

Do it all the time and love it. She gets my undivided attention, we have fun, its cheaper. Win win win.

I had to as I'm a lone parent. However, it wasn't always much fun for me.
Never taken then abroad though, costs and SEN makes it too stressful.

I do know families where the expectation is they do everything together though. But they tend to have more children!

Yes, I only have one DD though and school holidays would be very dull if I needed DH to go and do any big days out.

Yes, not a single parent but from when they were babies we've done weekends away and when they were primary age went abroad.
Sometimes DH would join us later, sometimes it was just me and the kids or me or with my friends/ their kids.

I don't drive but I'd just load up the buggy and bus to the station. When they're little it's such a great time to be able to explore together. Things tend to be quieter / cheaper too so it's good to make the most of it.

I have always done a lot of zoo, theatre, museum trips solo. I've made the career sacrifice to be around so I've more time + although I love these things it's mainly for the kids so cheaper if we're only paying for 1 adult.

I don't when it's both of them as DS3 is mental and can't be trusted and DS6 has ASN and other disabilities so can't talk, has no danger awareness and prone to meltdowns. If we go out it is as a family.

Yes. DH and I had no childcare so would often split school holidays between us. Whoever was not working still took DS for days out, including theme parks. It's cheaper if you're only paying for two! 😁

Yes of course, especially when they were little during school holidays. My now teenagers and I love city breaks and my dh hates them, so dc and I will go to say London for a weekend and leave dh to talk to his cows. I know lots of couples who seem to think that they have to do everything as a family together or not at all, which is really unhealthy and limiting.

Interesting to read the responses as I assumed @ijustdontcareifhedid meant "just 1 child if you have more than one.."

However for me it was a yes to both (mine are adults now) I took them out with just me and I took them out 1 on 1 (as did dh)

I am meeting dd1 on the 19th for a "just us" lunch she is almost 27.

Yes I did and still do.

I also take her on holiday just the 2 of us & have since she was 3. I get more AL than DH so makes sense that me and DD do some stuff together and we enjoy it. Until I wrecked my knee I took her skiing each year from being 3 - just the 2 of us. I loved it.

Yes not sure why I wouldn’t, unless this is a drip feed where u have 6 kids and 2 have SEN