To think holidays with kids are 90% shit

Also we were in holiday in same location as sibling who has a 13 y old.

Activities like tennis & golf went down well, and stuff with his 11 yo brother.

Will 13 yo and 10 yo do things together? My kids are younger but they do EVERYTHING together on holiday and have a whale of a time

Best idea ever

Op you are so lucky
Enjoy as much as you can

It is so tiring !!!!!!!

Get yourself to a spa for an hour or two???

Your age gap is your issue op.

If you just had 10 & 13 year old you could do age appropriate stuff but you are probably limited by carting a 2 year old around. Is it a second marriage/half sib?

I don't think holidays with young children is ever completely relaxing as you can never turn your back, but I think the key is to let things slide a bit, don't stress over the minor things, don't worry about the screen time, try to mix things up a bit, get them involved in activities, DD's loved messing about in the pool with DH, or building sand castles, water sports.

Perhaps try to give each other some time out to relax.

Not all holidays with kids are shit?!

We just got back from a uk beach holiday with DC 6 &8.

It was bloody brilliant. We went kayaking, swam in the sea every day, played cricket on the beach, ate loads of fish & chips and ice cream. Silly card and board games. We pottered about the local town and bought fudge and sticks of rock.

Honestly i had a lovely time.

YANBU - we just returned from a holiday abroad with our 13 year old, to a destination they chose and their face was tripping them the full time
Didn't want to go anywhere, see anything, participate
I couldn't wait to get home and won't be doing it again next year
We weren't comfortable to go out and leave them alone in the apartment either
Was miserable xx

Pahahhaha! So true!

Relax on a holiday with kids? Not a chance. However, good to have time to spend with them without having to go to work/do the cleaning (all the rest, the food, the drinks, the bedtimes are the same sort of thing as at home). We don't do holidays abroad - much too stressful!

Depends on the child. I travelled the world, literally, with my first child, from when he was 18 months.

My 3rd child makes me weep going to the corner shop. Holidays with her are just awful, she can turn any given situation into a circle of hell.

Why the hell would you cut people out of holidays? for me they are special, and no more infrequent times with family, my DD will always be welcome as long as they want to come.

In the 13 year old bored? It's very difficult to please a 2 year old and a 13 year old at the same time. I have a large age gap between my children, so speaking from experience! When my eldest was 13 he would not have wanted to hang around a pool and hotel all day, he wanted to get out and about and do things and see things. Of course, he liked pool/beach but not for more than half a day. That makes it hard because toddlers can't manage the same things, but you can please different people at different times. And it's also very hot.
My child at 13 would have hated the hotel entertainment too. I don't remember relaxing on a holiday for years myself, but now my children are older I miss how they were.

Yep, dd is also at uni and still wants to come with us. And we want to take her!

We have never really gone for beach type holidays either. Too dull for our liking but each to their own!

YANBU. We always go on Mark Warner holidays so we don’t have to suffer the pain of the faces of three teenagers with faces like slapped arses.

They love meeting new friends and the water sports and me and DH actually enjoy ourselves as we hardly see them!!

The ages of your children are making it tricky to keep everyone happy.
It would be better if you and hubby can separate a few days to do individualthings with the kids. Like you go out with eldest, then all meet for lunch and dinner. Then he does something with the eldest next day ect..
mine hate the heat so we tend not to go away in summer anymore, preferring Easter or October school holidays, maybe this might be better for you next year?
Not ungrateful, we work hard for these luxury's

i can see your point and mine are close in age. i decided against the family holiday and we are just doing days out this year and the budget for the days out is better because I’m not spending on accommodation and travel. It is still exhausting but at least it’s cheaper. We are fortunate that we live in a very popular area for tourists in the uk so there’s a lot to do on our doorstep and I realise that isn’t the case for many.

I would give the 13 yo more slack. Evenings can stay in hotel room for example. Reach a compromise, less stress. Also they may then decide to do more off their own back

Totally agree with you OP. More trouble than they’re worth. We’ve decided not to go away this summer and the amount of times I have thought ‘thank god we’re not on holiday!’

We've found the most successful holidays to be those where there are other kids to play with. For us that has meant short camping trips or going on holiday with family in eg and Airbnb. We like having the freedom and control to do what we like during the day whether that be kid or adult oriented days out or downtime.

There are a couple of times when DS has been very homesick on holiday despite me planning child friendly stuff eg campsite in France/Efteling theme park in the Netherlands. Other times he surprises me by enjoying things I didn't realise he would like!

Our dc's first trip as a 12 month old was to Melbourne. It was fantastic!

Same here! Plus we never did resort type holidays so that was never a factor.

Our dc is a young adult now living away at university & still wants to come on holidays & trips with us.

When dc was younger we did 2 centre trips like 3 days in Venice & 10 days by Lake Garda etc

Or 3 days in Palma & 7 days travelling around Mallorca

So we had the best of all worlds. We only did the beach thing once on the trip to Mallorca as dc wanted to try that sort of a holiday.

We've gone on lots & lots of city breaks & its still our favourite type of trip.

And, yes, we did them when dc was a baby / toddler too!

The key point is they aren't really a holiday, not in the sense you knew holidays before. They are new experiences.

I'll reflect on past holidays and say I am glad I went on every single one even if they weren't all fun in the moment (some were downright grim but I'm probably most glad I did those ones - last holiday with ageing parents etc). You're creating a bond and much as I hate the phrase making memories, this is probably very much what you're doing with your children. If possible, plan an actual holiday with friends if you can while DC are elsewhere. Then you get a break as well as enjoying the family holiday.

Everything is wank once you involve the kids 😂

I think you’re brave to go far with a 2 yr old. Hopefully it’ll be more fun when they’re older?

Well I’m on holiday with a 12 yo, 14 yo and 18 yo as well as DD28 who is their auntie and disabled. Because of this things take time.
They wear their sun cream, don’t sulk about or complain, have fun and join in.

It will always be hard work with kids but you need to address his behaviour or the others will follow suit in years to come.

Can't either you or DH take the 13 year old out to do something they'd like to do separate from the younger ones? And swap over to the 10 year old, or both on another day. You can't possibly expect a 13 year old to be as equally entertained as a toddler.

And no, taking kids on holiday is not shit, it's fun despite their groans and moans, that's part of it, as they usually come home with a smile.