To not understand the "holidays with small children is just parenting in a different place" complaints?

I’m with you OP, I like holidays with my kids BUT they are and always have been good travellers and are easy going, and crucially - very close in age which means they are happy together wherever we are, got someone to play with, and are into the same kind of activities.
We have friends whose kids are 8 years apart, one has SEN and both are really fussy eaters and they HATE holidays! Just more of the same in another location as far as they are concerned ..

Neither you or @Agix have children and quite the view you both have!

This.

I don’t have kids but in my last job I got sick to death of one of the directors scheduling on-site client meetings at 9am so that we would have to travel up the night before and stay in a hotel. She got an evening off from her two children (who were 2 and 4, from memory) and uninterrupted sleep which was great for her, but I missed out on an evening with DP for no reason. It was fucking tiresome.

Did someone on this thread actually say ‘they obviously don’t like being a parent?!?!’ This trumps EVERYTHING I’ve ever read on mn. Everything!! 😅😅😅 Op, I honestly hope in ten years time you can still say what you’ve said in your op. And I really truly mean that. I hope you never experience the ‘I’m too hot/ hungry/ tired/ why have we walked so far/ I’m not walking any more/ I wish we’d never come/ you made me miss my (match/ friend’s party/ Thursday 😅😅😅’

I don’t think many people are arguing that some people find holidays with kids easy. What is surprising is that the OP ‘cannot understand’ why some people may find it hard.

I think it's quite hurtful to suggest parents who have a really hard time on holiday and find it really, hearbreakingly difficult actually resent having their kids with them. That's not the case at all. You're ignoring all the people saying how the change of routine can affect some kids extremely badly and without all of the support and coping mechanisms you have at home, it can make it really hard to get through and enjoy - not because we resent our kids. Your post is so ignorant.

Maybe op doesn't want 3-4 children, I certainly don't! And again, 'come back when you have a 4 year old'. We had great holidays when DD was 4, she loves swimming so days by the pool are perfect.

The people who complain on here that you are talking about are usually on a self catering holiday doing the lion’s share of the cooking, cleaning and laundry on top of the multi child parenting, often with no partner or a partner who is not pulling their weight. Or they have a ND child to care for.

Or they have a few annoying in-laws also along for the ride so they end up exhausted and resentful that not one bit of the holiday feels like a holiday.

I’ve never seen a complaint from someone in your type of holiday with a catered holiday, spouse on the same page, and no extra in laws or friends imposing their needs and drama on you.

Yes the difference is between a cheap hols with little or no luxuries making life harder vs a hols with luxuries/hotel.

What you’re saying is that money can make a difference. Not that going away on hols with a baby is easier than with several, older children.

Really? My eldest is 3 and I’m feeling like 4 might be the age I enjoy holidays?!

Yep! 2 is a struggle on holiday, different routines

An all inclusive with no tidying, cooking and a baby who is in bed early in another room so you can chat and spend time with your partner sounds lovely.
Staying in a caravan with multiple children, the travel cot is in the main living area so you can’t use to relax in in the evenings, the weather is awful and the children are climbing the walls and the job takes about 30 mins to book a pan of water for some pasta and you then have a piles of dishes to wash up in the tiny sink plus clean up the inevitable mess on the floor/table that comes with small children is just parenting in a different place.

Surely you can see the difference?
Oh and I really love being a mum hit that doesn’t mean it’s always fun and easy.

I've never regretted taking my DCs on holiday, but thinking back to the two holidays when they were 18m, they weren't exactly restful...

DS1 had multiple food allergies. AI abroad was out of the question. SC was the only safe option. Unfortunately he was allergened due to mis-information a couple of days going away, so the holiday involved a lot of screaming from abdominal cramping, and extensive use of the washing machine to deal with the aftermath of umpteen neck to knee poonamis.
I was also pregnant, very queasy, had thrush and ended up having to visit a hospital because the pharmacy wouldn't treat it and told me to go to my GP... who was 350+ miles away on another island of the UK...
Memorable... but not for the ideal reasons.
Definitely same shit, different location in a very litteral way.

DS2 was newly walking at 18m and in headless chicken mode (with turbo). DS1 was 3. We had to have a clear 1:1 policy on supervising each child to make sure that DS2 in particular didn't bolt off head first into the nearest swimming pool (he already had form...) DS1 had grown out of most of the allergies so we did do a foreign AI. TBH there wasn't that much to do there with such young children. DS2 also still woke for night feeds.
DS1 has memories of the holiday, but it wasn't relaxing at all for parenting safely.

I didn't have an "ahhh" moment on a family holiday until they were 5/7 on a camping holiday and old enough not to be scruitinised constantly.

Other "memorable" holidays include the one where DS's asthma flared partway through and he couldn't get too hot, or transition into air conditioning... interesting when camping in a heatwave... The icing on the cake of that one was MiL dying, having to cut short to be able to get to her funeral. The 7hr journey home on a 33⁰C day was a delight when he began wheezing every time we had a toilet stop. So no, not a relaxing family break.

Now we're into the teenage years and it's slightly like the toddler years of trying to find mutually enjoyable things to do together, but at least we can leave them for a while and please ourselves more!

Finding family holidays logistically hard work isn't about a lack of love or planning. Some families just have more complex circumstances. We're not all in the same position with the same options.

This! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Or 3-4 children.Your post comes across as rather smug to me.

It was never my experience either, but I suspect there is a correlation between spending power and enjoyment and also expectations and enjoyment. We used to do a lot of more cultural type trips, like Rome, Valencia, Brugges. The kids were very portable, as long as we didn't overload the day and fine to wander round the Colosseum and places, parents were happy because we were still enjoying a cultural experience, kids enjoyed being somewhere different with both parents and as a SAHM it was easier having husband present 24/7 than being at home alone with 2 kids. We haven't done any package holidays but we have also done a few beach holiday like Greek islands when they are small, but always in a hotel, and found that to be fun for everyone too. I obviously was expecting to be watching the kids constantly rather than reading a juicy novel.

I had the same ideas and experiences till mine turned 3, enjoy it while you can

Well, we’re all different aren’t we?

AI or a cruise holidays, I just wouldn’t enjoy, for example.

I love going on holiday with my kids but sometimes they have been in tricky stages when we have been on holiday and it has been hard work. One of my DCs at 18 months loved water and would happily head straight into any body of water - swimming pool / sea / lake and not be distracted from doing so. An all inclusive beach / pool holiday would have been an absolute bloody nightmare. The other would happily sit on the beach digging in the sand and would only enter the water reluctantly with all floatation devices known man. That makes a beach holiday a bit more relaxing!

This sounds like a lovely holiday

X

I mean, yes, planning a holiday in Canada with 3 young children took planning… maybe I’m odd but I enjoyed that. Car hire company couldn’t be sure they’d have 3 car seats so we had to take 3. Trekking through Heathrow with a baby on my front and back, dd holding my hand and our hand luggage while dh grappled with 2 luggage trolleys due to suitcases and car seats was not exactly relaxing but we laughed. 11 hour flight? We planned. It was part of the fun for us. I guess some people would find that stressful.

I think I must have blocked out the totally awful times as I have nothing but nice memories of our family holidays. DH worked abroad a lot and our children were used to travelling from around 4 months old as we often went to see him every 6 weeks or so. My three were all easy babies and apart from the usual toddler breakdowns they were easy children. The only holiday I wasn’t keen on was a caravan one we went on, that was the first and the last, I’m not a camping person and experienced absolutely no joy from that one. Maybe I was so knackered I was just happy to hand them all over to DH for a week and look at those breaks through rose tinted glasses 🤣

It sounds blissful! But, I suppose, it’s each to their own! I always enjoyed time away with the kids rather than trying to entertain them at home.