Would taking a main family holiday at Easter, when your dc is in the first year uni a good idea? Or will there be too mich work for them to do?

[Ohhereiswhereitis]

Thinking of taking a family holiday at Easter next year
I've worked the dates out and have a 15 day window

Would this be a good time to go or should I wait till summer?

Would my adult dc have alot of work on ?

Depends. For dd a lot of submission deadlines and exam revision fell in that period.

I wouldn't book it now. By Easter they could have all sorts of plans that won't include you!

Wouldn't have worked for us. Wait until end of term (dates will be on Uni website)

Are you sure your DC will even want to go on a “main family holiday”?

I don’t know why you’d be taking a uni age kid with you tbh, they’ll probably have much more exciting plans!

My DDs would have been horrified to be taken on a family holiday whilst at Uni! They would much rather have had the equivalent in cash to spend on whatever holiday with their mates they wanted to go on.

Are you sure that after a year of uni, your DC will even want to come with you?

At my uni the 3rd term was only exams, no teaching, so I did a fair amount of revision over Easter. I don't think this is super common.

I happily came on family (paid!) holidays as a uni student!

My dc went with their friends instead!

God I was well out of the family holiday bracket by the time I was in uni. Wouldn't they rather go away with their mates?

They'll have no idea how much work they need to be doing for their exams, it could just end up a right pain in the arse for them.

Have they actually said (enthusiastically) that they want to go?

She will likely have exams and /or assignments due after Easter and could need the Easter holiday for revision. It will be hard to know until she has the schedule but I would wait until her first year ends.

Are you sure DC will want to go on a family holiday ? I know I certainly didn’t once I got to uni and it was the same with friends and their DC. Also they are likely to have exams and assignments due after Easter so would probably want to use the time for revision / assignment completion. Booking now could place a whole load of unnecessary stress on DC if they get their schedule and there are submission dates and exams post Easter and lots of stress for you trying to manage a stressed DC and also yourself trying to unwind / sort out a holiday which doesn’t work for DC.

There may be exams after Easter. Do uni kids still go on holiday with their family?

No because it’s just before exams. To be honest I would go without them anyway. They are an independent adult now

It depends which university, which course, and how academic your DC is.

If he/she is off to Cambridge to study Medicine, definitely don't book anything, but if he/she is going to study English at Manchester Met it'll likely be fine. Assuming the course is well within your child's abilities and not a huge stretch academically.

My kids and pretty much all my friends' kids still come on holiday with their family, especially if it's abroad and they're being paid for! They go on holiday with their mates too.

But Easter is not the best timing for exams though.

Depends on uni as well. DS’s uni didn't have Easter holiday

No, there’s usually coursework due in just after Easter, swiftly followed by exams. The best time to go if she wants to be included is just after she finishes but before A levels end.

It never occurred to us to take DC on holiday once they were at uni.

Would they even want to go? I spent my Easter holidays at university either working to pay for a summer holiday or going away.

The general vibe on MN is that your over-18 children are kicked out of the nest and not allowed back in.

In real life, my dc, their friends and my friends' dc all continue to go on holidays with their families while in uni. They also holiday with friends so it's not because they have no other options but rather that they like their families and vice-versa.

Two of my dc are finished uni and will still, timing permitted, join us on holidays.

All that said, Easter is not a good time for uni students, particularly if it's their first year.

I do think it’s a bit odd for uni students to go on holiday with their parents. Mine went away with their friends. Maybe if you’re the sort that have several holidays a year, they might go on one of them, but most people just have one holiday a year, I assume.

First year you'll be fine they're exams aren't as important if they want to come, but they might not. Could you go after their exams in late June or do you have school age dc too

They must be wealthy students, then!

My DC are still teens, but a coworker of mine had went to Cambodia this Easter with two uni aged DCs and a younger one at 6th form. It sounded amazing and as far as I could tell the elder two were delighted to go. Another colleague has DC who are in their later 20s and they all enjoy taking holidays together (especially skiing when the parents are paying). The adult DC bring their partners along sometimes and they sound like they all genuinely enjoy spending time together.

I've enjoyed travelling with my parents and siblings throughout adulthood and still do it now from time to time. Obviously not every holiday, nowhere near, but there are 52 weeks in the year and I think it is really sad to assume that family holidays can't continue, even if they do look a bit different.

Sorry that doesn't really answer your question about easter travel specifically, but I disagree with PPs who are questioning why you are even considering it.