To ask if you’ve had a nice holiday with your kids?

[sandytoes84]

Currently pregnant and naively thinking about lovely future holidays with child (children if I’m lucky enough to have another).

I feel like all I’ve read this summer on AIBU is how awful holidays with kids are and what a terrible waste of time and money mumsnetters are experiencing.

So I’d like to ask, did YOU have a a nice holiday? (I hope you did!) And what did you do/where did you go?

Our holidays have been great fun but probably not overly relaxing. I won't do one hotel room as I think that would be awful. We have done yelloh village: times. The last one was epic, we paid more for the nicer accommodation and had a blast. Kids 2 & 4

I have mostly enjoyed holidays with the DC. I think the key things are:

• don’t expect it to be like holidays before the DC;
• book something DC will enjoy, if they are happy everyone is happy;
• take any crucial kit you need for them to sleep/eat/travel comfortably;
• sunshine and a pool helps A LOT;
• be flexible, there will be some days everyone just needs to flop and some days you need to throw cash at the problem and get a taxi/buy a pizza/go to the water park

If you have a decent budget there are resorts catering specifically to making sure you have a nice time with children - see the lists on babyfriendlyboltholes or i-escape with kids or Tots Too. For example with a baby I recommend Caserio del Mirador in Spain.

And congratulations!

Yes. And we have always had good holidays. Till about 4 we do pool/beach holidays. We don’t do kid’s clubs (my kids are in childcare FT during the week so I don’t want them in a similar set up on holiday). We relax our rules and also keep to a general routine. It’s always been fine with the occasional meltdown. My kids have also flown long haul (20 hours+) from when they were tiny.
After 4 we do lots of European city breaks. We adapt it to them. Open top bus tours. One child friendly thing to do. One adult thing to do. And always a hotel with interconnecting rooms or Air BnB. Before DS2 came along we took DS1 to Paris, Lyon, Nice, Berlin, Zurich, Geneva, Edinburgh, Prague, Brussels, Bruge and Rome. Usually on a long weekend or even flying out on a Friday and back on a late Sunday night. We like travelling and eating and luckily so do both boys so far.

We didn't do a lot of holidaying when they were toddlers, started when the youngest was 3, bloody love them. I do have pretty laid back kids though.

We never had a bad holiday with our children. They're grown up now and I miss the family holidays tbh. We always went SC in either an apartment or villa. Doing it that way meant me and DH had a room and they got to sleep in a separate room. We'd eat breakfast and lunch in and go out of an evening.

We've got 2 sons, 2 years apart, who are very close so they always had each other to mess about with in the pool or on the beach. It was important to us that they saw the area we were holidaying in so we'd hire a car and go out and about.

The best holidays we had were in Cala D'Or in Majorca. We went 6 or 7 times, iirc. It's a short flight and really family friendly. We took them to Menorca when they were about 5&7 but never went back. We regret that now. DH and I went a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it. We're going back for the 4th time in a couple weeks. It's so child friendly that I can't see you'd have a bad holiday there.

Yeah i think its been mostly nice. Kids have mostly got on with each other, although ds2 has been complaining about the "terrible holiday" but he does have a tendency to catastrophise being told off once or twice

Mine are 11 and 14 now. We've always enjoyed our holidays with them, even when they were tiny! We do self-catering or camping and have a lovely time. I genuinely have never found it stressful taking them away. More effort than an adults-only break, yes of course. But still really enjoyable.

I’ve had great holidays with my children. When very small (20 months and three) we went for a month to Australia. Only issue was evening meal which either meant room service or a too early meal for us with tired kids.
When young the kids are so full of wonder that every sight of a sheep (in the Peak District) brought an excited exclamation - the 500th as enthusiastic as the first!
My husband passed away when they were 4 and 6 so now holidays are a bit different - I am solely responsible for the admin plus deciding where and what kind of holiday. I don’t get to lounge by the pool while my partner takes the kids off for a few hours, and it can be quite stressful with the logistics of travelling.
When kids are young you are chief entertainment officer and it is totally and it is not that relaxing.
But I do find the trips now with teenagers mean they are forced to get on with each other without their own friends and devices to distract them. One trip to Spain with no internet or tv meant they bonded over card games and downloaded seasons of Friends after dinner. Last year to Wales and they even enjoyed walking around ruined castles! However you can’t just potter around with kids - they want to know where they are going and how long it will take and when the next meal is! You can’t just wander around Rome saying ‘oh this looks like an interesting street let’s just wander down it’.
But holidays mean we spend much more time eating together and exploring things together - shared experiences we just don’t have at home where the kids have different schedules, friends and interests. It’s family time and the week or two it lasts is long enough for us to reconnect without getting on each other’s nerves!

We didn't do abroad until they were nearly 5 and 4.
We went to a place in the south I'd been to a lot as a kid and had fun on the beach etc.

Holidays go wrong if your expectations are too high.

We haven't had a terrible holiday - the odd day when it's been stressful or the kids have played up but not Terrible.

If you're kids can't cope with late nights don't have late nights on holiday.

It's not rocket science but people want the perfect holiday of insta perfection but forget that family life isn't that ever.

We've just been to Cala d'Or for the second time! Totally agree it's great for families.

We have always had great holidays with our DC, even when they were toddlers. We took it in turns watching them at the pool so one of us could relax for a while, and used kids clubs when we could. (Our DC loved them). Our mantra was once the children were happy, we were happy, and the sunshine and lovely food abroad was enough for us. Having said that we are away at the moment for a few days but I have been ill and i am bloody miserable!

Just had a terrible holiday with DH and DC which cost a fortune. I won't be doing it next year.

Honestly OP, stick to UK holidays for up to a week. Drive somewhere seaside or somewhere with loads of activities and let them crack on with being busy and making friends.

Save city breaks and adult stuff till they are much older or just you and DP.

My DC have been on glaciers and up volcanoes. They have been in luxury hotels in exotic places. They have been in historic castles and seen amazing historical artefacts. Did they enjoy it - nah!! They are happiest in an arcade with an ice cream and a bag of chips.

Of course you can have nice holidays.....my advice is to go for all inclusive and hotels that have entertainment/kids clubs

We did Sardinia with our 4 year old this year and it was fab.

We've never had a really bad holiday - one on France was memorable for several bad reasons - but it had it's good points too.
Holidays with kids are very different, when they're small you are better off going somewhere that suits them. We've done a lot of camping in the UK, with beaches and smaller activities. No big theme parks until older. DH would not entertain all inclusive or anywhere busy though.
We've 3 kids with quite big age gaps but they get on really well and the older ones were very good at playing with the littlest.
I think we've deliberately chosen pretty low key holidays mostly as that is what suits us.

Love holidays with the kids. Never had loads of cash so have done mixture of camping in UK, static caravan, canvas holidays in France (usuallly with nice pool) YHA, Travelodge.
Both teachers so get lots of time off together. Much prefer time with my own kids to teaching other people's kids!
We really enjoyed taking them away as toddlers and babies. Not sure why everyone else hates it so much. They are only small for such a short time. Just adapt what you're doing to suit them and try to catch moments where you grab a beer or a meal in a pub.

Always had great holidays with dc8. It's more likely to be my dh who stresses me out!
Dc loves the beach and pool. Was always very amenable with naps in buggy when little so we never had to restrict adult evening fun (nice meals/ entertainment). We usually go away with family/ friends which makes things easier. More eyes to watch the kids and take it in turns to watch them in the pool/ sea. Means we all do get a chance to read a book/ have a cocktail in peace/ sunbathe etc. My dc also loves kids clubs!

Prior to kids I loved a nice secluded beach with low key accommodation. A lovely Greek island getaway perhaps, or staying in a beach guest house in Thailand.

These days laying on a beach is no fun at all (for more than 1 hour). And accommodation has to be carefully thought through. Dinners out are just stressful. Hiring a car is a pain, so we end up in touristy hotels in built up beach resorts. No it's not great.

We've had two fantastic - really enjoyable holidays with DC... at Disney Florida.Not a place I thought I'd ever go to. But it was easy, entertaining and all kitted out with everything we needed. We all had a brilliant time. Never thought I'd be one to say that. Can't wait to go back!

@Mallowmarshmallow
I’m going to menorca this week. Cala n Bosch
If you were in the area - any recommendations?

Just back from nearly three weeks in France with age range 1 to 6. Had a lovely holiday. Went with eurocamp and it was really relaxed. Got the ferry from Ireland so that was better than flying. Would rather 18 hours on a boat with a cabin to sleep rather than even half an hour on a plane with kids.

OP LOVED my hols with my children

All the threads about awful family holidays tend to be about big family groups and childcare not being provided!

I loved holidays with my children. The thing you have to do early on change how you holiday. Generally with small children self-catering is easier but don't make yourself a martyr. Ease up on the food rules, have a takeaway, take premade easy food if you can. Haven and Butlins etc are my idea of hell but a small site with a nice park and a small pool can be great as you have fun on hand but not too much stimulation. Being near a beach can be wonderful and most small children love a zoo. Also, book somewhere with a washing machine, it may be housework on holiday but getting a few loads dry makes getting home with third children and work in the next few days less stressful.

It's only ds and I but we always have a fab time.

Just don't have expectations of an amazing holiday and remember that kids will still get tired and grumpy, still be hungry outside of the eating hours and will still want down time alone.

I've found the least I expect the better fun we have!

We always have a lovely Summer but to be fair I Freelance mostly from home ( which I reduce over the holidays) so childcare not an issue. Plus they are 10 and 14 so pretty easy
We went away for the first 2 weeks and since then we have just had friends round, been swimming and generally chilled out. We are also going away for the last week of the hols too
The only issues we’ve had are keeping DS off Fortnite too much and getting DD out of her room. I’ve solved this by making her his personal trainer (paid) to help him get fitter. She has also been feeding a few of the neighbours cats for money while they are on holiday so she’s been largely self funding
I love Summer hols and feel sad when they go back

Oh, and in terms of going abroad.
Gran Canaria with a 4 month old. Easy, no time difference, sea swims, magic!
Spain by train with an 18 month old. Getting to Santander in the early hours and him playing in the low tide all day was a highlight. So much fun.
Eurocamp has been dead easy and cheap.
Train the Italy was a fab adventure with a 3 and a 1 year old. Stopped in Paris, day in Venice, hanging out in the beautiful lakes.
Next weekend we've booked a YHA in Wales. 4 person room for us 5. Perfect as we can put the kids to bed then use the kitchen and lounge. We did this is Germany too. And caravan parks are great for toddlers due to the pool if it rains.

I was looking at DS this morning and feeling sad that he's going back to school. I love having him around.
I think the first holidays with DCs can be difficult because you're adjusting but since he's been about 2, most of our holidays have been great whether here or abroad. We try to make sure there will be other DC ie kids clubs, an activity programme, etc, but also spend time together as a family.
We each make a wishlist at the start of the holidays of what we want to do, who we want to see, where we want to go. Then we prioritise and work our way through it. It's a good way of giving everyone ownership and reminding DC that it's not just about what they want to do.