To think a family friendly campsite should not have fireworks at 11pm?

[ridingsixwhitehorses]

We just got back from camping trip in France - huge 'family friendly' campsite full of families with young kids Our kids (all under 7) were in bed by 8.30pm at the latest each night as they were knackered and also we wanted a grown up evening. Though we noticed lots of other kids up much later. And twice they were woken up on separate nights by the campsite's own organised entertainment of very loud fireworks at 11pm.

Don't children stay up later on the continent just something I've noticed.

Yep - have no doubt my kids were annoying in the morning as we let them go outside and play from 8am. My kids get up early whatever time they go to bed (believe me, we have tried!) so we just had to accept that if they are to get enough sleep they go to bed at normal time. Otherwise the days are a disaster.

Of course I know families are all ages - just that I had clearly mistakenly interpreted family friendly to mean not noisy (like a say, our tent was a good ten mins from the main entertainment bit of the campsite and the restaurants and bar etc).

In fact for my kids 8.30pm is a late night - they usually go to bed around 7pm.

But yep, I think we will save campsites for when they are teenagers and love all the entertainment on offer and do a self catering house next time.

Interesting. Thanks for your thoughts everyone.

Playing out from 8am is considered acceptable as far as I can tell OP, so I wouldn't worry about that.

Your 7 year old goes to be at 7pm????

My 8 year old doesn't get home from school/after school activities until gone 7.30pm some days. Her normal bedtime is around 9!

Both mornings and large evenings is a cultural thing, I reckon. Where I live in Spain you just wouldn't let your child play out and make noise on the street during weekends or holidays until after 9.00 at the earliest. Most children in summer are still playing out at 10 pm so fireworks is completely normal at 11.00. In our village the local Fiesta has fireworks at midnight then 1.00am. It's holidays, we nap at lunchtime and everyone's happy. For a campsite when you're on holiday I think UABU.

Neither of mine are in bed before 9pm during term time (age 7 and 5). They're up at 7:45/8am for school. During holidays it's more like 11pm-9:30am.

YABU.
Early bedtimes on holidays?

What constitutes a disaster? Seems a shame they'll miss out on any entertainment until they're teenagers :(

Family friendly clearly means the opposite of what you were thinking, OP.

In fact, I'm astounded you didn't know this already with having DC

Haha Worrywort!

Nope, I don't have a 7 yo. My oldest is 5. The 7 yo was in the other family we were with. She often went to bed first!

Off topic but am interested how many of you have v late bedtimes on holiday. Mine are all 5 and under but would enjoy their holiday less if that stayed up late as they wake early anyway so would then be tired next day and not enjoy swimming etc.

YABU. At our campsite in Spain last year, the "family entertainment" STARTED at 10pm, so often didn't finish till 12.30ish. We were a bit surprised at first, but ended up just going with it and having naps after lunch, then all staying up till 1ish.

Youngest was 8 at the time so older than your family, but still they adapted very quickly.

So do you never go on day trips then? If up late and napping pre evening?

My experience is that most children can be brought up to be flexible: if they are used to slightly unconventional ways of holidaying they can nap on the bus on the way to the day trip or in the shade of a tree during a lull in the sightseeing, or take a more organised siesta the way Spanish or Italian children do. A smaller percentage are naturally inflexible and get very disrupted by a change of routine. But most children can learn to adapt if their parents don't get too uptight.
(Otherwise, how would nomadic people ever cope at all?)

The "family" entertainment at a Dutch site we went to when the kids were 8 and 5 was a kids' kareoke accompanies by what looked like soft porn videos in the background leading to DD2 saying "why hasn't that lady got pants on?". So think yourself lucky OP

I have always been told that it's safer to keep kids out of the midday sun, so we all tend to nap most days on holidays. Of course we do go on day trips, no one naps when we spend the day at a water park for example, but we still have quiet time in the shade for a while.

My kids can be a nightmare at home and always wake up very early, but as soon as we are on holiday and they go to bed late, they sleep much later in the morning, and they do need a nap. So do I, and they love it.

I knew that family friendly resorts were a nightmare noise wise before I even had kids, I still dont' think they are ideal if you plan to relax.

We've just got back from a campsite in France and our routine definitely drifted back by a couple of hours. You would hardly see anyone up before 9am in the morning but young children were still dancing at 11pm. The family entertainment included cabaret dancers in g string leotards. DD2 (age 3) came up to DP in shock and said 'they're naked daddy'

Mine are 7 and 5 and I answered that question before you asked it, OP (3:35pm).

That's their "routine" in and out of the U.K. We've gone long haul with big time differences, caught planes at 6am and done days out aplenty. We prefer to travel through the night (DH and I are owls too) and sleep in wherever possible. Suits all of us. DD (5) is particularly lovely between the hours of 7 and 10pm and an absolute grumpy bum at 8am all year round.