To be considering cutting our family holiday short?

[Babybabybabyooooh]

We are currently in the Lake District (live in the south west).
We have three children aged 11mo, 1yo and 2yo. So far it’s awful, our 1yo is a total flight risk at the moment, the 2yo is acting incredibly difficult (which is definitely down to her routine being upset but it’s still making it very difficult) and the 11mo is being his typical baby self, but it’s much harder to accommodate him with the added stress of the older two and the holiday.

I’m not having fun, the kids kind of are but the location isn't having much of an effect on that, and they’re mad they can’t just run free like at home because it’s not enclosed, it was such a long trip to get here and we’ve only been here two days but the thought of staying until Monday makes me feel sick,

Would I be unreasonable to pack up and go home and just holiday from home? There are just as many zoos and parks a driving distance from our home that they would love all the same!

Let's be realistic the only real holiday with 3 under 3 would be one with copious amounts of childcare which means either taking doting grandparents or staying at home and spending the holiday money to book them into extra sessions at nursery (if they go, if not get them registered) so that you and your DH can do day trips/spas/lunches out together. At that age the kids won't give a monkeys and you'll both actually have unwind time and an opportunity to remember why you're a couple!

In fact I think I might take my own advice...

Pack up and go home. Both you and your DH are having a miserable time of it on this "holiday," and, frankly, your children are too young to be making the kind of holiday memories that you were thinking about when planning this. All of you will be better for calling it off a bit early. Enjoy your own home, your own place, with no work looming over you. Here in the USA, we call it a "staycation." A vacation at home. When the kids are a bit older, then is the time for them to form lovely memories!

There is only one way to enjoy holdings with very young children

Throw money at it

We went with a baby specialist treacle company
It was incredible!!

Even had a baby purée menu. I kid you not.
Everything was included and very high end - bjorn etc.
Bliss

I remember reading somewhere, “ don’t bother taking children under 10 on holiday, they won’t really remember it or enjoy it”

So not true. They don’t remember much before around 5 or 6 but they still get a lot out of being outside of their comfort zone and trying new things. We returned to the same accommodation/area for a few years and that made things easier, as it was familiar and we started to ‘bank’ favourite places to revisit. We also had a lot of fun (but also some memorable misfires (Tintagel still = DS2’s epic 1 hour comedy meltdown for me & DH).

I went on a U.K. seaside break on my own with a 5year old and a newborn. Husband working. Friend passed by as I was packing car and said, you’re brave! She was right. A nightmare. Only did it so 5 year old had a summer hol. Needless to say, he doesn’t remember it! The staying at home and hiring a nanny for a week sounds a much better option!

* don’t bother taking children under 10 on holiday, *

What the hell?

I’m a single parent of under and around that age

We have the most wonderful and special holidays.

And who gives a fig about “making memories”

We enjoy the present

I have two under four and my rule is that I will only go on holiday if it will be more relaxing than being at home. I don’t think there is a holiday on this planet that meets that criterion with three under three so I would learn from this and save your money for a few years. Your husband needs to snap out of it and stop taking his mood out on you so that you feel you have to jolly everyone along. Fuck that. He’s a grown up and should act like it - talk to you about how he’s finding it but not treat you as his emotional punchbag making the situation even worse for you!

@Marmitemarinaded

There is only one way to enjoy holdings with very young children

Throw money at it

We went with a baby specialist treacle company
It was incredible!!

Even had a baby purée menu. I kid you not.
Everything was included and very high end - bjorn etc.
Bliss

Baby Treacle!!

Each to their own I guess...

I think you need to chill out a bit.

That’s way too many activities, toddlers just like grubbing around somewhere that is fairly safe and they can explore freely. Go for parks/ forests and just find places.

Zoos etc are intense days out.

I think holiday parks are good for kids once they can play outside semi-supervised.

Before that we tended to go to family friendly self catering places with playbarns etc.

@RealHousewifeofBarnardCastle

Holidays at that age are just childcare somewhere different but without your stuff. I’d go home.

Yep / go home

bother taking children under 10 on holiday,

No way. I always took my two away, right from being babies. Flew abroad as a single parent, staying with my parents for six weeks every school holiday.
Took them on city breaks, camping. Great fun. Just needs to be well planned and with low expectation!

As others have said 3 under 3 will be hard work anywhere but I don’t agree with those saying don’t bother under 10.We used to Eurocamp in Europe from 2 onwards. We had great times, they played with other children on the beach and in the pool, loved looking round castles as long as there was an ice cream at the end of it. Wherever you are babies will need nappies changed and to be fed.it was just great to have good weather and food from the takeaway instead of cooking every night.

It’s a busman’s holiday when they are those ages. I’m only just finding the idea of holidays not horrifying and I only have one child who is 4.5 😂😂

The only way to deal with 3 under 3s and relax at the same time is to cage them into a hazard-free area.

Just go home. Never went on holidays until the kids were older - eg. 6 and 8.

We took one child everywhere while he was a tiny and it was all good. But from five to 10, it was much harder. When DS was a toddler, he was happy to do new things and became comfortable in holiday houses quickly. Less amenable to not having full on wifi between 7 and 12, and then we changed holiday type a lot. (We shared a boat with friends). Now he would kill for a canal boat in the south of France. But it won't happen.

My suggestion— Basically save up and when covid is over do something like Mark Warner’s with dayclubs and nurseries etc and if staying in the UK I would stick relatively close to where you live and go to Butlins at minehead with kids that age— they would get more out of it and more age appropriate activities too - and Kay for the nicest accommodation there- it’s actually not bad. we didn’t take our son on holiday till he was 4 - and luckily grandparents looked after him and we went away 3 or 4 times for 4-7 days on our own . I know that’s probably not so easy if you’ve got 3!!!

If it’s not too late, are you able to put up windbreaks around the front of your “lodgings”. Make a safe enclosed area for your toddlers to run about so they can’t run off. Windbreaks can be obtained from most touristy souvenir type shops and can be quite cheap.

We had a similar experience in the lakes. It just wasn’t the place for us and it pissed it down the whole time. We left two days early to save our sanity. Just go home. Chalk it up to experience!

www.brockhole.co.uk/activities/adventure-playground/

This place is nice the adventure playground is fab

On another note your a braver woman than me with 3 under 3 let alone taking them all on holiday
Mary to make the most of it tho but if it is getting too much going home is always an option

3 under 3 with travelling so far and in this heat was never going to be fun. I also think your itinerary is too busy, no wonder they are riled up. I would do a maximum of one activity a day and then either lunch or dinner out. You can't expect it to be a holiday in the traditional sense and filling the day with toddler activities is overkill. Doing an activity a day or on alternate days will allow them and you to rest.

I think id talk to your dp and suggest maybe going home friday instead of monday as youre finding it much harder than you expected.
He might even suggest going home earlier. Cut your losses. Its not supposed to be an endurance test.

I don't understand all the people saying don't have holidays with little ones. We started at 2 with ds1 and 9 months with ds2. Never had a bad holiday.

Just have realistic expectations and go with the flow.

¹

Antiqueanniesmagiclanternshow Have you seen the OP’s itinerary? It was most definitely not in the realistic expectations and go with the flow camp which is probably why they’ve been having a miserable time. I’m hoping she’s taken on the comments from the thread, sacked off the museum trips and is now having a less stressful time of it.

@Babybabybabyooooh

Yes they are 11m, 20m and 2y 10m!

This is the rest of the plans for this week -

Tomorrow is Beatrix potter museum, boat trip, a picnic and take their little balls so they can run around with them.

Thursday is breakfast outside, pool party in the evening and a take away evening

Friday is a farm village with a soft play barn

Saturday they have pottery painting in the morning, an outdoor park with loads of different t options including a little splash park, then arcade and BBQ

Sunday is a wild boar park and then we were going to visit a free Victorian house estate and park with lots of open ground

Monday is when we are leaving, planning to leave super early so they nap in the car and go directly to Bristol zoo before heading home.

We have iPads with lots of movies and tv shows for all car journeys, we have audio books and nursery rhymes too. We have brought lots of toys fro them, although I’m considering getting a little paddling pool as they might enjoy it more than the pool?
I’ve got constant snacks as the weather is meaning they aren’t really enjoying big meals so I’ve split it down into lots of little meals…

I knew it was going to be a struggle but honestly I thought I’d planned it accordingly, boy was I wrong! 😂

I think those days are too full.