Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think it’s ok to put kids (4 and 1) into kids club on a ski holiday

508 replies

Needallthesleep · 14/01/2021 13:21

Obviously not this year! Planning for the future.

DH and I love to ski, and given what a shocker this year has been for holidays (plus we have a newborn so not like we can go away anyway) we are planning an epic one next year.

It would be the first time going skiing with our kids, and are planning on putting the 4 year old into ski school and the 1 year old into kids club so we can ski.

For context we are looking at doing 14 nights in a very kid friendly hotel in France with childcare on site. We are planning a 2 week break so that we (and the children) can have some relaxed days together at the pool/sledging and me and DH still get a decent amount of time skiing.

MIL thinks that’s mean. And I am wracked with mum guilt about our plans now. Are my plans unreasonable?

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 14/01/2021 14:28

Personal choice
I wouldn’t though

ReceptacleForTheRespectable · 14/01/2021 14:28

4 is the perfect age for ski school - the earlier the better! The only question is whether the 1yo will be okay in kids club. 1 is very young.

RaspberryCoulis · 14/01/2021 14:30

We went to a fancy resort with a kids' club a few years ago when ours were around 5, 7 and 12. The kids club was their favourite part of hte holiday. They met kids from all over the world, the staff were brilliant, there was a separate section for the older one to play basketball and other games with older kids. The sessions were something like 11-1 and then 3-6, we didn't send them all day but most afternoons they went to kids' club after lunch, we relaxed, drank cocktails and had a lovely time.

Be prepared for the head-tilting contingent though who will say that holidays are precious family time for making memories and there is no way they'd abandon their precious babies to the kids' clubs.

And besides, you can hardly ski with a 1 year old strapped to your chest, can you?

SueEllenMishke · 14/01/2021 14:31

MN is not the place to ask for advice about holiday kids clubs.
I've not RTFT but i'm sure there are plenty of people telling you how terrible you are and asking why you bothered having kids.

The bottom line is you know your kids best.
We've always used kids clubs and DS loves them and is still talking about our last holiday (18 months ago) and specifically talks about the kids club.
People seem to think you are dumping your kids for the whole holiday when the reality is they are there for a couple of hours per day...and that's if you use them every day.

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 14/01/2021 14:32

AwaAnBileYerHeid
Op asked for opinions on AIBU. She's been given them.

JerichosPenisInADeadChickHat · 14/01/2021 14:33

"We went to a fancy resort with a kids' club a few years ago when ours were around 5, 7 and 12."

Not 1 then? Completely different

CheetasOnFajitas · 14/01/2021 14:33

OP just ignore all the people coming on here who have clearly never booked a holiday like this and have no idea how the companies who run them work.

Of course you have to put them both in childcare/ski school at the same time otherwise you’d never get to ski with your DH. You can’t ski in your own. So unless you went in a multi-couple group and had a friend to ski with, the options are use childcare or don’t bother going.

Esprit ski have this down to a fine art. The 4-5 year-olds don’t ski all day, they ski a bit and do age-appropriate play activities for the rest of the day. You can obviously use the provision as much or as little as you want to. It’s all properly planned around the logistics of a ski day and includes a service where they sit outside your room in the evening while you go for dinner in the hotel. Only thing I would say is that 2 weeks is unusual and most just go for one. There is always one day in the middle when the staff have a day off.

IncludeWomenInTheSequel · 14/01/2021 14:33

Being used to childcare isn't the point. At their nursery they're familiar with the staff and routines. This is a one year old being plonked into a completely unfamiliar situation. I don't think it's fair at all.

Oriunda · 14/01/2021 14:34

We do it - my son loves the kids club and always makes friends. Tbh if you don’t, you may as well not bother going skiing, as by the time you come down to meet them off their ski lesson (assuming older one going to ski school) you’ll have only managed less than a couple of hours on the slopes.

Our kids club collects the kids from class - though I always make sure I’m waiting to greet my son to see how he got on. They take them to lunch in their own private room. They take them swimming in the kids play pool. Son loves it. Sometimes he’ll even ask to stay and go for dinner with them, too.

MarshaBradyo · 14/01/2021 14:34

Why is it bad to say many one year olds wouldn’t enjoy it. Ime it’s very young.

Not against holiday clubs for older dc.

museumum · 14/01/2021 14:35

We love our ski holidays and ds went to kids club from age 2 onwards.

He loves it - as an only child he just loves being with other kids all week, sledging and making snowmen from age 2 then skiing from 3.5 and dh and I get the best quality time together of the year skiing and eating lunch together (we don't have a babysitter at home so don't really go out together at home).

We do only go for a week. I am not sure if a fortnight would suit ds. And our main summer holiday is camping so we're together 24/7 those two weeks... we also spend plenty of time together in our normal daily routine (e.g. family dinners in the week etc).

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 14/01/2021 14:35

Ps nothing against kids clubs for an older kid.

But for a 1 year old you are just leaving them with strangers and for what? Because you cant cope with not being able to do exactly what you want just for a couple of years when a baby is tiny?

By the time the child is 3 it gets MUCH easier and the whole family gets something out of it.

Just my opinion but when you choose to have a child it does entail some sacrifices as you have another persons' needs to consider.

Waterdropsdown · 14/01/2021 14:36

Someone has probably already said this - is there someone at home you could leave the kids with and you and husband go for a long weekend yourselves?

My kids would NOT have been left with strangers at 1. I mean they would have caused us to be called back within 10 mins. Even now at 4 at I wouldn’t leave them with strangers as they would hate it.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 14/01/2021 14:37

Imagine your dh saying "come on, let's go on holiday" then you get there and he has booked you into the spa or for solo day trips with other abandoned wives while he goes and plays golf most days. You'd be pretty pissed at the lack of time together right? Even if you did enjoy the spa and the trips alone - it's not what you had on mind when the holiday was announced.

Cocomarine · 14/01/2021 14:37

It’s so child dependent.
At 4, in ski school, my daughter watched another child cry with no parent to retrieve, and asked me to promise I wouldn’t just disappear - and then herself wanted to stop. Hated it. At 7, she loved it and was on a black run, with almost parallel turns on day 5.

Iknowwhatudidlastsummer · 14/01/2021 14:37

I would love to know how much childcare the righteous "but it's a family holiday" actually use in real life.

Again, I think you can only decide when you see how your own children react but if they love it, there's strictly nothing wrong with it.

I bet the posters on here have no issue asking family or friend for babysitting, put their kids in nurseries and so on - or currently have flipping "support bubbles" because their own children are too much. Ignore the martyrs and the hypocrites Grin

CheetasOnFajitas · 14/01/2021 14:37

We also have an only @museumum and out hold sound very similar to yours. I agree, it is the best couple time we have all year. We even got engaged in a ski resort. So gutted to miss it this year!

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 14/01/2021 14:38

I wouldn't risk leaving my 1 yo for the first time on holiday - f they're already doing childminder/nursery then that feels less risky. I think a fortnight feels quite long though. I'd go for a week and do what a pp said - plan to have the mornings to yourselves to ski and the afternoons with the DCs.

Doublefaced · 14/01/2021 14:39

Not for me.Kids clubs /creches in holiday resorts ( winter or summer) tend to be staffed by pretty irresponsible teens looking for a good time who’ve been on the lash until 4am the previous night.

I know cos I’ve been one Wink

Iknowwhatudidlastsummer · 14/01/2021 14:39

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Imagine your dh saying "come on, let's go on holiday" then you get there and he has booked you into the spa or for solo day trips with other abandoned wives while he goes and plays golf most days. You'd be pretty pissed at the lack of time together right? Even if you did enjoy the spa and the trips alone - it's not what you had on mind when the holiday was announced.
I'd love to know what you think the 1 year old can possibly expect from a "family holiday" 😂

Even a 4 year old might be delighted with new toys, new activities and a fun club. If the OP can't guess yet how well they will enjoy it, a random poster on Mn cannot have a clue.

Peanutbuttercupisyum · 14/01/2021 14:39

Hello!
I was in your position a few years ago. We LOVE skiing and pregnancy and newborns meant I hadn’t been in SUCH a long time.
We went for a long weekend instead and left the kids with my family and they had a lovely time...and so did we!!
Now they are older and they came with us last year for the first time (aged 7,5, 3) and they did Ski school whilst we skied hard in the morning and in the afternoon we had a long lunch, did a short ski (getting longer with the older 2 towards the end of the week) and sometimes went swimming or sledging. It was stress free, fun and they loved it. BUT we didn’t have a baby, there were no naps, buggies, slings to contend with. There was no timetable to stick to and they loved playing in the snow.
I would wait another 2 years to take your children, I really would. It will be so much more fun for you AND them. AND once you start taking your children...ski holidays change forever! No more relaxed apres on the slopes at the end of the day, no more long relaxed lunches with vin chaud atop a sunny mountain, no more crazy off piste adventures..make the most of a child free ski holiday whilst you still can!! Get your family to look after them.

m0therofdragons · 14/01/2021 14:39

4yo yes but usually 1 yo would have settling in sessions at nursery so to just leave them in a holiday club blindly assuming the care is sufficient and the dc would settle would worry me. Also depends, are you planning for them to attend full time daily? I love holidays with my dc so don’t really get the desire to put them in childcare but we’re all different.

MessAllOver · 14/01/2021 14:40

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz. I can't be the only person who thinks that sounds like a dream come true Grin. After so many months of my DH being the only person I'm really legally allowed to socialise with, I wouldn't mind ditching him for some fresh faces! Appreciate children don't normally see it that way, though.

Original poster
Needallthesleep · 14/01/2021 14:40

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion that is hilarious! Also, Claudia looks fabulous there

OP posts:
CheetasOnFajitas · 14/01/2021 14:40

@Doublefaced

Not for me.Kids clubs /creches in holiday resorts ( winter or summer) tend to be staffed by pretty irresponsible teens looking for a good time who’ve been on the lash until 4am the previous night.

I know cos I’ve been one Wink

So you only book with a company that employed qualified staff. There are plenty. Or are you saying you were childcare qualified but still irresponsible?
Swipe left for the next trending thread