Does anyone actually enjoy family holidays?!

[weekfour]

You can probably guess, but I'm currently on holiday with 3DC (aged 1, 3 and 6), DH and my parents. It's fucking hard work and I feel like I'm spinning bloody plates trying to keep everyone smiling.

I'm too hot. DC are too hot. There's too much traffic. Everything is expensive (I've got enough money but resent being ripped off). No one will sleep at the same time so I'm feeling the need to burn the candle at both ends. I just want to be at home, where I know where everything is and I don't have to police a fucking swimming pool.

There we go. I feel better already.

Apologies if I don't reply. The air on keeps knocking off the circuit board in our 'luxury' villa which takes the WiFi with it. Or somebody wants something. Again.

I have an only and we love holidays. We are on last day blues today 😢. He goes feral and we drink and eat. The thought of gp on holiday is hell. Go to a big AI hotel the pools will be child friendly, there's kids discos, kids club (if that's their thing), there's usually evening entertainment and you meet a few couples to chat with. IMO it's the only way to holiday with youngish kids. Do some excursions/hire a car to see a bit of the country too

I love holidays with my family. I’ve struggled when sharing accommodation with friends though.

We go away with our 3 ( been Abroad twice already this year )

DC ages 6/4/baby

We always go to resorts that are All inclusive and include kids clubs and organised activities

I’m like you and like a bit of structure and so do my kids so we like to know we get up , dressed , down for breakfast . Then straight after two oldest fo to kids club , usually 10-12 and baby naps . This gives us a few hours to recharge with a book or swim in peace

We did look at villas before but we just thought it wouldn’t be a holiday , still washing up / cleaning / laundry / food shopping

We go to get away from all that

I know All inclusive might be some people’s worst nightmare but we go for 4 star minimum and always nice modern family rooms to a good standard and lots of space .
We like the routine
Even the evening kids entertainment means the older two are down on the dance floor or playing with other kids . Again, just gives you a little break from non stop parenting day in day out.

I have 3 dc although teenagers now but I've always loved family holidays, however never gone with either mine or dh parents. Have taken kids abroad from very young and in fact lived abroad for a couple of years ( middle east) so flew long haul on my own with a 4 year old and a 5 week old!
I think the key to enjoying a holiday is planning, choosing a suitable accomadation and resort for the age of children- generally if the kids are happy parents are happy.
When my youngest was 18months old we spent a month one summer abroad staying with relatives - loved it!
Holidays are a priority for us and very much looked forward to - in fact we bought a home abroad 2 years ago so we could go more 😁

I actually found them more relaxing once we went with extended family. Would never, ever go on holiday with friends with their children though. So worried that we would not be friends by the end.

We’ve just finished a week camping with DC 8 & 4 plus my parents. It’s been lovely - meant someone else was watching the kids and half the time the children were with their grandparents anyway and we had peace. Ate together about half the time but camped separately and did our thing unless we happened to coincide.

I make my husband do pool watch!

Week on our own now. Which will also be fine. It helps when the kids go off and make friends and leave us to our own devices.

I've done two holidays with dd (first aged 1, second aged 2) and other than one day where she was an absolute pita, I've loved them and they've genuinely been relaxing. However, similar to pps:-

1. We go AI. There's basically no decision making for a week which for me is bliss. I can cope with a buffet if it means not doing a big supermarket shop, meal planning, cooking, cleaning or spending 2.5 hours in a restaurant.

1. We choose kid friendly hotels. Playgrounds, soft play and cheesy entertainment keep dd happy (and wear her out so she sleeps in).

1. We don't actually do much and our days are fairly structured which dd seems to like. We tend to spend the morning at the beach, stroll back to the hotel for lunch, go for an afternoon stroll, find a playground then pool or another beach. Dinner, kids disco then bed. We'll do one or two sightseeing/cultural things in a week - that's enough for dd.

1. A week is long enough.

1. For various reasons I'm extremely reluctant to go away with my parents, PIL, any of our siblings and most friends. Overall I think a holiday is much better if you can be selfish and do exactly what you want.

1. We fly at reasonable times.

We're going away next week and there's a kids club. I'm hoping dd will go for a session or two!

I love them.... in retrospect. Nice as memories of the handful of minutes that everyone was smiling.

Our holidays improved once we stopped going with other people (and kids hit about 4/5). Just pleased ourselves. Still doesn’t resemble any holiday went on pre kids.

Worst holiday? In laws plus a baby and a toddler....

And despite the snobbishness on here, the best holiday I had with kids was an AI, no cooking, kids clubs etc.

I cannot relate to this at all. I love holidays. Went away at half term with 4 under 6 (not all mine) and had a great time.
They are so much more relaxing than being at home. I like going sc and doing the cooking but I don’t really do that at home much. Love eating out in local restaurants. Love the hot weather. Love that everyone can sleep when they want. Basically, I love holidays
Why do people go if they don’t enjoy them?

Oh and 10 nights is great. Long enough to relax but not long enough to get bored of the "sameness"

AI holidays are great too. And camping. And skiing. I cannot think of a holiday I wouldn’t want to do.

I think I did stop going when they were toddlers! Plus I cook every night at home so don’t want to do that on holiday.

Yes, ds is finally at a civilised age. After months working full time, being a single parent and doing homework with my ds, we got to have weeks of fun, learned to bodyboard together, crabbing & doing rock pools together, his first time eating Lebanese food and him trying to teach me minecraft . And it was brilliant weather.

Can’t wait for the next one.

We didn't enjoy family holidays until our DC started school. Up until then it was just the same shit/just more expensive view. Can remember locking myself into the loo and quietly crying one day when it had all just got too stressful to bear.

But once we had reached the stage where we didn't need buggies, nappies, naps and bottles it all got so much nicer. We still followed the KISS (keep it simple stupid) mantra though. So accepted we wouldn't leave the holiday cottage or hotel before 11am. Always ate somewhere child easy for lunch and didn't stress that they only ate chicken goujons and chips for 5 days straight. We bribed them with ice cream whenever necessary and let them have quite a bit of screen time too. This meant we were much more chilled and were more energised and more fun when we did do the water parks, zoo, beach with the DCs.

Also realised that throwing money at the problem really made a difference, so nice hotels with wrap around kids' clubs and paying for a baby sitting service etc. In the long run it really did give excellent value for money because it made the difference between just enduring a holiday already costing a fortune and actually enjoying a holiday.

Our DCs are now teenagers and holidays with them are genuinely great because they head off and do their own thing some days, and can even be trusted to put together a simple evening meal.

Yes I love family holidays! We travelled around the world for a year with our three a couple of years back- happiest days.
That said, we’ve just come back from three weeks away and it wasn’t the best. This was simply because our youngest (nearly 6) is highly irritating at the moment and really winds the other two up. It is the same at home though so might as well be travelling around doing nice things.

My tips- pay for good flight times, eat main meal at lunchtime when they aren’t all really tired, air b&b or self catered apartments for the space, good WiFi, an activity every morning straight after breakfast (decide the day before and don’t negotiate with under 12s or over 65s), have a good mix of child centred/ non child centred activities, take regular drink breaks in hot climes, travel in cars/buses etc in the afternoon to facilitate naps, let them eat coco pops for breakfast everyday (if it’s a normal holiday not a round the world trip!)

I've been on UK holidays with DH and DC and loved them. However, I want to rip my own head off when GPs are involved in any way. I particularly hate visiting / staying with GP who live at a distance and this being classed as a holiday. It is not. I want to spend time with my DH and DC, not negotiating various family dynamics and organising older family members as well as my DC. I also shudder with horror at the thought of airports and flying anywhere with DC. I can't bear airports at the best of times.

In Spain now with two dc and had a great time! Very child friendly hotel with loads of kids stuff to do keeps the eldest busy whilst me and dh share the wrangling of the youngest. Buffet for breakfast and dinner means I don’t have to cook or think about where we’re going to eat. I’ve read two books, spent loads of time with dc having fun and I’ve caught up on my sleep.

In a self catering apt near Venice.
Beach.. pool..kids 6 and 8 love it.. lesson is i think don't go abroad when they're still in nappies!!

We do a week with the kids and our parents every year.
The key for us is everyone choosing one thing they’d like to do / see during the week then every evening meal time we make a plan for the next day including what time we’ll leave the cottage, where we’ll each lunch etc. That way everyone knows what is happening and there’s no fannying around in the mornings.

It would be the parents that would do it for me. I just spent a weekend with my mum and my DC and there was barely a moment that at least 2 out of the 3 of them weren't talking to me or wanting something from me. Xmas is the same but throw DP into the mix too....

No I've done family holidays for the last 12 years and I have hated them all, but I am an optimist and always feel I have found "the solution" for the previous years issues and book again.

I am very snobby about AI but it is the only holiday I have enjoyed as it's an actual break for me. Also camping with other families for a short period of time (like 2 nights) works ok.

My son is ASD and hates change, and his difficultness spreads to everyone else. Plus all the hassle involved.

Definitely wouldn’t go with my parents! They annoy me enough at home let alone stuck together on holiday!
We had a week away earlier this month in a villa, and I think that’s my ideal holiday. We ate out every night except one when we had a bbq (DH cooked). Big shop on day 1 for essentials such as milk, cereal, ham, cheese etc. Fresh bread from bakery each day so just sandwiches for lunches.
We are dreadful morning faffers so having a pool RIGHT THERE makes a big difference to how quickly we get on with our day. I don’t mind the washing up (for most stuff there’s a dishwasher), laundry (only swimming stuff generally), in fact I wouldn’t like staying in a hotel where I couldn’t wash clothes when I felt like it (don’t trust hotel laundry not to lose stuff).
I’d hate AI. Best part of holiday for me & DH is going out to eat, finding different places each night, I’m an avid trip advisor person. Kids used to eating out so they behave pretty well, plus we have crayons, paper & (emergencies only) iPads/headphones. DC are 7 & 4, this year was easier than a year ago, so expecting next year to be even better.
But a week still enough! Especially as it’s so bloody expensive for villas is school holidays