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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to wonder why parents take a toddler abroad on holiday

135 replies

boozybritabroad · 23/05/2019 16:06

I'm currently on holiday. At the airport saw parents stressed out with toddlers. Airport shop toddlers wanting LOL dolls causing arguments, parents losing their shit. On the plane toddlers running riot - parents losing their shit. At the hotel toddlers screaming all day. Surely it's better just to leave them at home so you can enjoy a bit of peace and quiet?

OP posts:

TheFastandCurious · 23/05/2019 16:30

Because when I’m at home losing my shit at my toddler, I have to cook for them, clean, do school runs and work as well.

When I take them on holiday I can lose my shit at them while relaxing.

steppemum · 23/05/2019 16:30

We used to love it.
Warm weather, sit by the pool, toddler plays all day, you get to eat nice food, toddler crashes and sleeps well after all the fresh air and exercise.

We didn't even do hotels, so I still had to cook, but we alternated getting up so 7 lie ins over 2 weeks - bliss.

toddler nap during heat of the day, so a couple of toddler free hours too.

TillyTheTiger · 23/05/2019 16:30

I would hate to go on holiday for a week without my son, I would miss him so much! Having said that, he's just about to turn 3yo and I haven't ventured near an airport with him yet, we've had two cottage, one caravan and one camping holiday in the UK and they've all been brilliant - some of my best ever memories!

Cannyhandleit · 23/05/2019 16:31

I took 2 toddlers on a longhaul holiday last year and didn't lose my shit once! They loved it, we loved it!

kaytee87 · 23/05/2019 16:31

Oh also, 'boozy brits' probably annoy the locals far more than a toddler having a wee tantrum for 5 minutes 🤷🏼‍♀️

ANewDawn10 · 23/05/2019 16:32

Yabu. My ds has been traveling from 8 months old and he certainly doesnt behave like this. He recently did a 14 hour flight like a pro and being on holiday with him actually feels like being on holiday.

LaMarschallin · 23/05/2019 16:33

Oh also, 'boozy brits' probably annoy the locals far more than a toddler having a wee tantrum for 5 minutes
Oh god, yes!

VivaFrida · 23/05/2019 16:34

I would also like to point out that there are some international families for whom 'home' is sited in more than one country. They are flying from one home to another home.

Also, what is 'abroad' - is it linked to citizenship? To residence? I have felt more estranged from the mindset and lifestyle of places a few miles away from where I was born that in far corners of the planet. 'Home' and 'abroad' are loose categories for me.

I have always travelled with my kids, regardless of their age - I was showing them their home, Planet Earth.

Fundays12 · 23/05/2019 16:34

Lol no idea who I would leave my toddler with even if I was prepared to go abroad and leave him for a week which I am not.

My toddler was great on our last holiday abroad, played for ages on the beach or in the pool, slept in his pram after dinner and had loads of fun. Although we did keep to a bit off routine for him so that maybe helped.

As for the drunk woman on the plane who insisted on talking super loud in the row behind us and hoovering in the aisle right beside my seat when I had a sleeping toddler on my arms she should have stayed at home. I can’t say I was impressed at having her making so much noise she woke my toddler up but hats off to Jet2 staff who refused to serve her more alcohol.

warmjumpercoldhouse · 23/05/2019 16:34

This has made me laugh who do you expect the parents to leave the children with? Toddlers have tantrums, it's normal, they're probably just overtired from travelling!

I can assure you despite the stress and tears, parents would rather holiday with their sometimes terrible toddlers, than without them.

nc100 · 23/05/2019 16:35

My kids have been travelling since birth. All types of holiday and it's brilliant, not stressful at all and they don't run riot anywhere, particularly not on a plane

YABU

IHaveBrilloHair · 23/05/2019 16:35

I took my just turned 1yr old to Indonesia for ten weeks, we had a ball.

warmjumpercoldhouse · 23/05/2019 16:35

Also if you want a child free holiday, go to an adults only resort.

nc100 · 23/05/2019 16:36

Fundays She hoovered the aisle?

DHhasahobbyanditsnotcycling · 23/05/2019 16:36

Going on holiday has always been the best time of the year with my kids!

As long as you don't try to recreate an adult-only holiday, surely it's a million time better than being home?
-you have 2 adults on hand
-no rush with childcare/work
-so much easier to distract the kids when everything is new, and you have new things to explore every day
-they do so much during the day that they sleep better, we put them to bed later, they wake up much later in the morning

Plane means travelling with an enormous handbag, but that's about it. If you pack enough nappies when they are little, snacks, distraction, download enough cartoons on a tablet, you are fine.

None of us enjoys the rain, so I wouldn't risk a UK holiday. It's fine for a last minute weekend, but not a proper holiday.

how can anyone not like a holiday is beyond me - but maybe if your ideal is laying down on a sun bed around a pool with a drink, that wouldn't work with a toddler.

OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 23/05/2019 16:36

Actually, can this be extended to teenagers? Whiny selfish sods. Oh and older relatives (see teenagers) And groups of Young adults. (Ditto)
In fact everyone except meeeeeeeeeee!

PotolBabu · 23/05/2019 16:37

My toddler has done multiple 27/28 hour flights/journeys without a fuss. The last time the person in front of him looked around in surprise as we were disembarking and said, ‘I had no idea I had two kids sitting behind me for 14 hours.’ They were almost 7 and 2.2 at this point. We like travelling, they like travelling, they enjoy new places, we keep our holidays sensible and reasonable- something cultural, lunch, something child friendly, visit to the park, lots of snack, dinner, Air BnB so we can drink wine when they are in bed. It helps that our kids eat most things/cuisines and are reasonable sleepers so on a 12/14 hour night flight will sleep for the bulk of it. We are off to the Caribbean on Monday for the toddler’s first beach holiday.

MotherWol · 23/05/2019 16:38

The toddler years are basically your last chance to enjoy a foreign holiday outside of peak summer pricing. Once they start school you're locked in to only having holidays outside of term time. I was fully on board with the idea of staycations until I realised this, now I'm planning on as many off-peak holidays as I can squeeze in to the next year.

DHhasahobbyanditsnotcycling · 23/05/2019 16:38

When I take them on holiday I can lose my shit at them while relaxing.

that's another way to put it!

MissKittyBeaudelais · 23/05/2019 16:38

Entitled much? We had to (wanted to) take my toddler with me, when he was one. That’s why it’s called a family holiday. And we had no relatives to leave him with anyway. We didn’t take the dog. She went in the kennel.

user1483387154 · 23/05/2019 16:40

because otherwise he wouldnt see his English family at all.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 23/05/2019 16:42

We moved a five hour flight away when youngest was 2.5. Flights were a bit stressful at times. The two years we lived there were brilliant... It was worth the flight. And the trips back to the UK to see extended family, cultural stuff etc.

A family with a toddler being stressed is only a small part of the whole holiday.

Fundays12 · 23/05/2019 16:42

lol no sorry predictive text she hovered over my shoulder the whole time and was so loud family members 15 rows back could hear her.

emotionalaffair · 23/05/2019 16:42

I've taken my kids on skiing, beach and city holidays when they were toddlers and thoroughly enjoyed myself on each type of holiday.

I have lovely memories and photos/videos from the many holidays I took my children on as toddlers.

MonnieMoo · 23/05/2019 16:44

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