To want to throw myself off our hotel balcony?

[Cisforcat]

We are on holiday with our normally reasonably behaved 3 yr old and 4 yr old and in our second week.

First week one set of grandparents were here and there were a few tantrums but nothing too major which we put down to tiredness from heat and being active all day.

They normally sleep 7-7 so as they are going to bed at around 9.30 ish we have enforced a 2 hr afternoon nap so getting reasonable amounts of sleep as they aren't waking until around 8-8.30 am.

The last few days we have had tantrums galore. Defiance at EVERYTHING , back chatting and general feral behaviour. It was my birthday one day and I didn't get any dinner as had to remove one feral animal from the dining area for absolutely unacceptable behaviour and a full on tantrum on the floor where literally everyone was watching. Queue me ending my birthday in tears and at my wits end. That's not to mention the toilet accidents they have seemed to have everyday. No idea where that has come from!

AIBU to feel like my children are the only ones to behave so unusually badly and never want to go on holiday again?
I'm embarrassed but most importantly so disappointed that they are ruining the one event I look forward to every year where I don't have to wash/cook/ clean and work on top of spending quality time with my family.

as dad says a holiday with kids is not a holiday for the parents.

Sounds tough

YWBU to cause yourself any harm but YWNBU to run a long bath, grab a book and/or a glass of something you enjoy and bugger off for some p&q for a couple of hours. Tell your DP/DH you’re off duty tonight and he/she can have tomorrow night off.

I know it sucks but try to remeber they are In a while new exciting place, there nit going to be their normal self.
I'm sorry your not enjoying your self though x

Is your dh helping in all of this?

Listen, it’s definitely isn’t just you. We took our boys away a few years ago when they were 2 and 4 and It. Was. Horrific. We spent a fortune on a nice all inclusive hotel for 2 weeks and were miserable. The older one behaved atrociously. Exactly what you describe. It’s put me off and we haven’t been away since. It was very upsetting and I understand exactly how you feel. We are going to try again at the end of the year. Wish us luck

Sounds grim. They are maybe over-tired/stimulated. Are you trying to do loads? Could you try a couple of low key days and early nights?

That's why we didn't go abroad when the children were young.

how long have you got to go?
Are you all in one room?

Holidays with kids are shit until they're about 8

Mine are like this on holiday too. They get totally over excited and it ends of with me losing my shit! Good luck

Sounds stressful. Maybe need to stick to their normal sleep routine from now on? It’s a pain but may make your days more bearable!

Hi maybe the afternoon nap is disorientating them if they're not used to it. You could just not bother and maybe theylll sleep in a bit more in the mornings?

Mine used to be like this if we stayed somewhere different. They'd be fine once we were home. It's like a weird phenomenon.

No advice here but thanks fir the reminder not to bother with foreign hols for a few years

It’s so hard. Their routine is all out - even if dh is pulling his fair share or more, in the kids eyes that is very different and so boundaries need testing! 😏

They’ll not always be this little or annoying.

Yes we are all inclusive with just days by the pool. No excursions just pool side time which they have loved. ( although the little menaces wouldn't even go to kids club!)

Got 3 days left thankfully.

DH has been great. We've supported each other and both been at wits end together. Tonight is his time as he's watching the football and we are having a quiet evening in after dinner in the hope they will settle well!

Mrsdc7- sorry to hear your holiday was so awful but it's given me a bit of reassurance that it's not just my two!

We have had some really lovely moments and the kids have really enjoyed it all. Just a shame it's so shadowed by such appalling behaviour especially as I'm normally so proud of them and their manners.

Still- there's been gin. On tap. And that has most definitely helped!!

Please don't be put off holidays with kids - not all holidays with them while they're small are a nightmare. We've been taking ours abroad since they were babies and never had a real problem - backchat and arguments between them but that's about it. I'm sorry you've had your holiday ruined and it must be hard having 2 little ones to keep an eye on. Hugs.

Yep. Holidays with small children are hard work
It does get easier by about age 8-9

Tantrums by the pool , screaming in the restaurant because the lovely waiter gave them a cushion to sit on

I remember taking DS , aged about 6 out of the restaurant and asking him why he wanted to make Mummy so unhappy

Pour yourself another gin , and plan the next family holiday in about 5 years time

It isn't a "holiday" OP, you're just moving the chaos of your life somewhere else for 2 weeks.

We had a horrific holiday abroad when our eldest was 8, youngest 5. Youngest got an ear infection and was poorly for 5 days, and couldn't get in the pool (villa holiday) - resulting in mammoth exhausting tantrums. When she eventually was allowed in, she fell in the deep end and nearly drowned. DD2 who is normally the sensible one walked into a metal railing on a day out and it went through her cheek - luckily we knew where the medical centre was at this stage. Eldest stood on something in the sea and had to go for treatment as her foot swelled up and she couldn't walk.

We went to Devon for the next 10 years.

Mrsdc7- sorry to hear your holiday was so awful but it's given me a bit of reassurance that it's not just my two!

Its most certainly not just your two.

I can still recall a holiday with my daughter and two of her children, they were about 2 and 4. We came home a week early. It was a nightmare and in actual fact we should have got off the plane before it even left the ground despite it not being the first time the children had flown. My grandson, the youngest, started crying on board and just never seemed to stop till 6 days later when we were on our way home after throwing in the towel.

The eldest is now almost 13 and it was only 3 years after that nightmare of a holiday that I was able to even go away with them on my own.

Sometimes holidays just dont work.

I guess kids like rules, then you take them to a place where normal rules don't apply so they go a bit haywire - probably still a good experience for them?

Mine are a few years older now, but we've been going abroad since they were 5 and 7.

The afternoon nap never works, so now we just resign ourselves to a very late start after they go to bed at 10.30/10.45. They generally wake up atound 9.15, so while we wait for that to happen I go to the shop for breakfast and dp folds up the bed (they have the bedroom and we have the living area in an apartment). We never get a sun bed around the pool however as we don't leave the room until gone 10.

I look back on holidays with small children with rose tinted glasses.Mine were awful at times and yet I do genuinely have some happy memories. There was the now infamous night when DH resorted to shouting "mummy let's pack the suitcases we are going home"

I've taken my kids on holiday every year Funky! I'm not saying never take them but they are a bit shit when they're young. Brilliant that your kids were never PITAs at this age but lots of kids are.

Personally I think villa holidays (yes I know there's cooking but it can be largely salads and BBQs) is easier with little kids and then move to AIs once they've got past the tired and unreasonable stage and are 100% reliable with toilet training. 5-9 is a great age for them to really enjoy the getting your own ice cream, siestas and evening entertainment.

Sounds like a normal family holiday to me :-).

Sometimes it starts on the journey - I've known parents to say, "Stop that now or we'll turn around and go home!"

Kids coming home from holiday and the grown ups telling them they spoiled it all.

We've all been there (& were all kids once). It gets better, especially when they are older and do their own thing. Yours are still very young.

Holidays are exciting times for children, they get over excited.