AIBU to only take one of my children to Lapland UK?

[coffeecoffeee]

I am tempted to try and get tickets for Lapland UK today.
My DC will be 6 when the time comes to visit, and my other will be 2. Would it be mean just to book for myself and my older DC? In the interest of saving money and it just not being that meaningful for the younger one?

Totally fine. You will likely both have a smoother time

its fine, why are you even asking?

Good grief no not unfair OP

come on… these are your children. Even if we all said it was unfair. The fact is… it’s your family and your finances

It's fine. You don't even have to tell the 2 year old what you are doing! Whoever is looking after them can take them somewhere age appropriate like soft play or something!

Take the older one now and the younger one in a few years?

What would be the price difference?

Not mean at all! Your 2 year old won’t get much out of it in terms of remembering the experience and it will be extra special for your older dc and I’m sure they’ll enjoy it being just the two of you, it’s nice to do things one on one sometimes. You can always take your younger one when they are older or if you still feel bad find something Christmassy and age appropriate to do just with them nearer the time so you’ve done something special with both of them.

Not at all! I think it's really important to have 1:1 time with children anyway, and Lapland UK is definitely more for older kids. You have limited time in the snow village area where the ice skating etc is, so it's much better to just have one child to focus on :) I took my daughter in December and it was great, she loved it. Hope you have fun :)

I thought you were going to say that both kids were similar age!

I think it's absolutely fine to just take the older child.

Why can't you wait a year or 2 and take both?

I thought you were going to have an older teenager you left behind. This is fine. Go for it

At least £140 and anything up to about £300!

With those ages and age gap a
I would say that it seems like a sensible idea. In 4 years you could maybe do the same again with the little one. At 2, they won't remember anything anyway. It's quite likely the 6yo won't remember either in a few years! But he will love the experience and is the perfect age for believing.

Yeah price difference would be minimum £150 because if I bring the little I'll pay for my husband to come too.

I could potentially wait until next year to take both but feel like my older DC is on the brink of it not being magical ...

@coffeecoffeee

You need to focus on being much more confident in your choices as a partner based on works for you and your family and your finances

As a parent

Book tickets just for one adult and one child. The two year old will not remember. Either you or your huband take the older one and have a brilliant day. Why is it so expensive?

Not unreasonable as such, but I’d wait a year and take them both. Unless you don’t plan on ever taking the younger one (which would be unreasonable). If you go now with the older child, you could hardly leave them behind aged 9 or 10 when you go again. I also think it depends a bit on whether your 2 year old will be just 2 or closer to 3 at Christmas. All of my children would have enjoyed it even at 2 and would have got loads from it at nearly 3 (not saying they would remember it, but that’s different and they, now they are much older, really like looking at videos and photos of things they did as toddlers).

I would probably put the money you would spend this year aside then start saving for next year. 3 and 7 year old will have a great time together. Or even 2 years time.

And I think most 7 year olds would find it magical.

I do things like that on a smaller scale (e.g. 1.5 year old stays at home with Daddy and naps while I take 4 year old to a farm). I don't see the issue with doing it on a larger scale - your 2 year won't understand what they're missing out on and can have some quality time of a different sort. My children love 1:1 time.

No, the two year old will not remember so why waste your money. Your older child may love having you all to themselves for the day. Take your two year old when they're older!

Doing smaller scale things like that is quite different though, as you can turn and turn about. And the next week the other child can have a go. It’s not really that usual to use a big experience holiday like a trip to Lapland as a chance for 1:1 time. That, for most families, is more of a one off. And my feeling is that if paying for all 4 is a push this year, it’s not going to get easier in a year or 2 when the OP will feel like she wants to give the younger child the same experience. I do think it would be unreasonable to leave the by then 9 or 10 year old behind in those circumstances (even doing something nice with the other patent).

I have 4/5 year gaps between my three so there were lots of times where I did something with one or two of them but not necessarily all three. Over time it just evens out. It is also really nice as others have said to have 1:1 time with your kids.

Perfectly fine, you can then do the same with your youngest in a few years. I don't do everything with both children, its good to have one on one time, just try to equal it out over the years (for instance I do a lot of things with my DD now because she's older and can handle longer days than my DS but when he's older I'll do days out just with him)

OP, I am definitely not saying you would be unreasonable. Not at all. But I do think people who are focussing on remembering are concentrating on the wrong thing. It’s enjoying that matters most. Memory is a complicated thing and childhood memory in particular. You cannot really predict what your children will remember. No guarantee at all that the 6 year old will remember either. My point is that it’s enjoying the experience in real time that matters. The “memories” will likely rely on photos and videos. But as I say, nothing unreasonable, in itself, in your plan.