to consider leaving the dc for 1 week

[startofnewterm]

My cousin lives in oz and his mum wants to visit him this summer, she is not a good traveller and would like someone to go with her. She is not much older than me.

My mum would love to go with her but she is terrified of flying so she has suggested that I go (I am very close to my aunt and speak to my cousin on skype 3-4 times a week).

Not only that, but she has offered to pay and said that she will help my dh with the children. She has suggested that I go for the full fortnight with my aunt but I couldnt bear being away from the dc for that long so I have been considering going for a week.

DH is ok with it, havent mentioned it to dc yet. They see my mum and dad lots so would be very comfortable with nan and grandad helping out. I'm a SAHM so time off work wouldnt be a problem either. There is nothing really stopping me apart from the dc.

I know they would be in good hands but I would miss them terribly and its not that quick to get back from oz in an emergency.

Its also probably the only chance I will get to go to oz. Aaaarrgghh, what would you do?

I would go for it too. They can skype you and talk to you on the phone while you're there. Perhaps stay with your parents a few nights to break the time up a bit?

I have flown to Oz and needed a good couple of days to get over the journey, so sorry but I'd say a week isn't long enough for you to enjoy it.

She'd be glad of that company on the return too then
...I also think that at 7 & 8 you might as well do the fortnight.

He'd notice if the house was a mess though surely? But you're right, it doesn't matter.

This is making me think of the days when I used to leave mine with their Dad and would litrally write out 10 pages of A4 as an instruction booklet! Like what clubs they had, what times to pick up from nursery or school, whether they usually have packed lunch on that day etc. They were very well used booklets!

I didn't think you were allowed to go for a week? Why i have that in mind i have no idea- but a week will be 48 hours travelling three day and two of those getting over jet lag there and then two days home

hardly worth it for a day trip

At 8 and 7 they will be fine for three weeks of school or at least 16-18 days away - gives there dad a really good boonding chance and then you get to miss them and they get to miss you which will be all the better when you get home.

it not like you will do it every year

go, do the fortnight, skype the kids, enjoy!

Definitely go for 2 weeks and have a great time!

It sounds like DCs will be well looked after and probably spoilt by GPs. They are def old enough to handle it.

DH and I recently went away for a week for our wedding anniversary. DCs are 5 and 2 and spent half the time with one set of GPs and half with the other set. They loved it, didnt miss us was an adventure for them.

Apart from feeling slightly sick on the way to the airport about leaving them, I had a wonderful time and it was a chance of a lifetime for us.

As another poster said, if you were going away on business you wouldn't think anything of it. My DH regularly goes away to the US for a week and far east for longer and no one thinks anything bad of it. As your DH is already hands on, there shouldnt be a problem at all.

I hate this 'bad mother' notion.

If you had to do it, as many fathers do for work, you would, and no-one would judge you. Your DC don't know whether you 'have' to go away or not. You are away either way, they will get on with it, and if you want to go, then you'll have a great time and bring home lots of stories for them, and a new lease of life.

You are not a bad mother for wanting a week or two away every 8 years, any more than a DH is a bad father because he takes up the opportunity to attend a conference in New York for work.

I would only say it might be unfair to go it you were working FT and had, say, 5 weeks annual leave, then chose to use 2 weeks of it away from your family - because that takes quite a large proportion of your family time.

free holiday - get a cleaner in for the last day your away - so then the house is clean for your return and then do a weekly shop online for whilst your away. get the clener to do the irnoing aswell so you can get home and crash

OP, are you on the qantas website now??

Curly, my DH hasnt a clue how things get done in our house. Seeing as I dont work I do everything around the house, shopping, packed lunches, uniforms. The DC would probably have to tell him where things are.

In fact, you've got me thinking now, I should make an instruction manual up just in case anything happens to me. If I died tomorrow I dont even think he knows what time they start school!!

Yes you will of course miss them, but what a fantastic opportunity for you. A trip of a lifetime.
We went to Oz 5 hrs ago for 3 weeks with our 14 and 17 yr old DS's and at our dinner watching the sun going down over Ayres Rock an American couple sat with us ( funny how all the other people at that dinner that night avoided sitting with us and our 2 teenagers, but they took a chance and we had a lovely evening with them chatting about ours and their lives on different sides of the pond)who had left their 3 under 8's at home with GP's for 2weeks.
Of course they missed them, but the whole Oz thing just spurred them into thinking that one day they would bring their DC back when they were older and could afford to do it as a family.
Your children are old enough to get through 2weeks without you with what sounds like a lovely supportive family.
You may well deeply regret this opportunity if you don't take it, always thinking 'What if?'
Go, take lots of photos to show them, buy them a nice present or 2 and it'll all be over before you know it.
Where are you going in Oz?

yes, do it and for 2 weeks. you will love it, kids are with their dad and a fortnight will go pretty quickly, honest!

WOW! what an opportunity - are you sure you don't want to do the full 2 weeks?

The dcs will be fine - it sounds as though your mum has got it all planned out and if DH is fine with it too, then it is a wonderful opportunity for you.

Agree with the posters who point out that if it was a man doing this, as many fathers have to for work, no-one would even raise an eyebrow!

Friends of ours have spent a week away together when their youngest was 1 yo and their children stayed with the GPs

Have a fantastic time!

Alfabetty - ha ha, tempting, I think I will have to chat to DH about 2 weeks. I know he wont mind, he's not like that.

And although he's useless round the house, he's a great dad.

Go for two weeks. I left DS1 (then 4)with DH to go to NYC for 5 days. He was fine.

Go, go, go!

You'd be mad not to. It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you will not be seen as a bad mother by the people that matter (the DCs). As others have said, you need 2 weeks to make it worthwhile because of travel/recovery time.

My DD had a 2 week holiday with her dad (ex-p) when she was 8. I used the time to go away myself. Of course I missed her but it was fine.

Now stop MNetting and get that ticket booked

Bearcat, my cousin is based in Sydney, in an appartment with a view of the harbour. Honestly, if someone else was asking this same question I would be telling them they'd be mad to miss this opportunity. I am seriously going to think about this now.

Bearcat, my cousin is based in Sydney, in an appartment with a view of the harbour. Honestly, if someone else was asking this same question I would be telling them they'd be mad to miss this opportunity. I am seriously going to think about this now.

I went away for a month (work-related trip) when my DSs were about that age. Racked with guilt.
But any time I called them they would either be too busy to speak to me or they would just want to know "What have you got for us so far?"
YADNBU. Have a great time!

Sydney, fantastic!
GO!

8 and 7, oh that's fine for 2 weeks with their daddy. If they were babies I might think twice

GO!

Btw, I have done several week-long trips, and numerous weekends away, some for work, some with DH. And I always feel sick at the thought of leaving them.

But they are fine, I sniffle at the airport and am then fine, and absolutely agree with quidditch - the reason I Skype is so I get more contact than a phone call when all they say is "Octonauts is on....[silence]" and "have you got me a prize [present] yet?'! Much more for my benefit than theirs!

DO IT!
I agree with Alfabetty 100%
The things you see may well inspire your kids to go there one day, or for you all to return as family etc

I didn't get to see my kids for three weeks once due to illness, (they were about the age yours were and constantly snotty nosed so a risk to me. Now uni aged and perfectly happy btw) and for pretty much 6 months what I did see of them was in a chemo blur. Before that I was a bit of a precious mummy and wouldn't have left them. Sometime life has funny ways of making you reassess opportunities, now we all try to seize exciting moments.