Going to the beach with young kids- absolute nightmare

[beahe]

Or is it just me ? On one hand, they do get busy playing with sand. That's probably the only time they've just been sitting and chilling playing all holiday.

But omg. The sand gets everywhere. My one year old has eaten a fair bit and my three year old has thrown it in his face constantly. She also decided to take a nap in the sand with a wet face and hair.

Then by the time we've dragged everything back to the car and got them in the shower to clean up, they're in absolute hysterics,

Is it worth it ? Any tips to make it more bearable ??

I read on here about taking a small inflatable paddling pool to the beach. The little ones can enjoy filling it up and then play in it, while you can keep a close eye on them. Wish I’d thought of this when mine were younger!

Because we live by the coast we never feel we need to make a day of it so usually head to the beach later in the afternoon when it’s starting to cool down and people start leaving. We always travelled light so not too much stuff to lug about. Kids always loved it. The sand has mostly dried by the time we get back to the car so easy to brush off.

@DemonicCaveMaggot, we took ours to coronado beach. Real holiday of a lifetime stuff. Ds1 was in a huff and lay flat on the sand, refusing to walk. The only thing that saved the day was pizza and chips in the restaurant.

I can still see him lying there in a huff

I don't like the beach but the kids do.

We take a beach pop up tent, towels are fabric rather than towelling, a big beach rug and lots of snacks and drinks. A big wagon (which is impossible to pull on the sand), a parasol, buckets and spades, the rocket launcher and away we go. Put sun cream on before you get to the beach as that's a nightmare to apply on the beach. Take talc to brush sand off the kids and you're good to go. The kids love it and I get total peace. Mine are small as well, 5 and 3 but we've been at 2 and 4 and 1 and 3. Thankfully.mine haven't eaten it or thrown it.

Accept half the beach will come home and you'll find it in places months after you and you'll be fine.

Ooooh I love the beach with my little one. He's absolutely obsessed with the waves and I love seeing him so excited. Sand does get everywhere but I don't worry too much about it...just brush off as much as possible before we get in the car and bath or shower later that evening before bed. My son is 20 months so I have to be really vigilant watching him at all times which is the hardest part but I think it's worthwhile.

YABU - my DC love the beach, it keeps them entertained for ages.

Part One:
Go for an hour or two only.
Take as little as possible (bucket and spade, towel in a backpack for bundling wet children up in but not for sitting on, leave everything else in the car).
Don’t settle, keep moving. Treat it like a walk with pit stops to dig in the sand and throw pebbles in the water and look for shells.

Part Two:
After an hour, come off the beach to sit on a bench with an ice cream so any sand can dry. Lick ice cream and watch seagulls.

Part Three:
Go home and shower off the sand.
Most importantly… put the shell or pebble you found somewhere to remind you of your nice trip out!

I would say in the heat go early in the day or later in the evening to the beach. Beaches abroad normally have showers and places to wash your feet so do that and change them before you go home.
In this country I take frozen water for drinking and warm water to pour over them before they get on the car 😊
Choose your beach carefully, you ideally want one with rocks and rock pools to explore maybe a shallow pool/river bit they can potter around, drift wood or shells to collect and a nice beach bar to have a drink in 😀
Dont attempt to eat anything on the beach ever!
Put sun tan lotion on way before getting to the beach so the sand doesn’t stick to it.

I used to dig a big hole, put a sunshade on the side of it, and plop my toddler in with a bucket and spade. They were as happy literally as happy as a sandman.

Throw in heat rash and it's all just hilarious

Get a sandpit, a paddling pool and a windbreak for your garden. Paint (or pay someone to paint) a beach mural on your garden wall or fence.

Wait for a windy day and then tell everyone you're going to the "beach". Play seagull and wave noise on a loop. Make your kids homemade 99 cones and drop them in the sandpit before serving for extra authenticity. Give them "donkey" rides on your back. Put lots of dirt, sand and rocks in the paddling pool. Then just hose them off at the end.

There you are. All the fun of the beach without the crowds and the hassle. You're welcome.

Glad it's not just me 😂

Yanbu. I'm a lone parent and every beach trip for years was miserable. There was a period of older primary / early teen years that was nice. Now they refuse to come full stop.

We went to PEI when we lived in Toronto. Beautiful, red/gold sandy beaches stretching for miles. Hardly anyone else about. Idyllic.

Where did DS2 spend most of the holiday? In our beach tent, eating a bagel and watching Paw Patrol on my phone (rare treat). Still at least it meant he didn’t get sunburnt. But he didn’t exactly engage with the place.

I love it but all our local beaches are stones. Once you've invested in a pair of surf shoes so you can clamber over the stones comfortably getting out of the sea it is so much better than sand.

Sorry OP, YAB very U! We live fairly near the sea and I've always taken the DC to the beach solo at every age. We've been there several times this past week and will go many more times before the holidays are through.

I just accept that my car will be sandy all summer long, and there will probably be sand in the beds, too. I have two IKEA bags, one for the towels and wetsuits and one for the buckets and spades. The former goes straight to the line when we get home and everything gets hung up and the latter just stays in the car. One of mine ate huge quantities of sand as a baby. It doesn't seem to have affected him negatively in any way!

Aww I'm really not getting the beach hate on this thread. You poor things!
I grew up by the seaside so I must be "different" but beaches are glorious and I always book a seaside holiday.
I don't have a problem with sand getting in the car and all over everything, you just deal with it. It's really not a big deal.

I remember eating pizza on a beach in Italy I was maybe five years old, dropped it in the sand and my mum joked that sandy pizza was the best sort. I ate it all and loved it! My mum was from Italy mind you.

We have 5 kids (including 3 under 4). Beach trips require a lot of organisation and planning for us. We never go on the crazy hot days. I always use those big ziploc bags and pack a spare outfit for each of them. Talcum powder to get rid of the sand. We never eat at the actual beach- McDonald’s happy meal on drive home.

I think it is fine if temperature is reasonable.
Temperatures in parts of Europe at the moment are dangerously high and we have just cancelled our holiday - unfair to put little ones through that.

We love the beach and have gone loads since kids were 1 & 3 but we live so close we can walk which both means it’s no hassle to go for an hour or two and then come back & shower and that we’ve had lots of practice.

Suncream before you leave home and long sleeve UV top with shorts to minimise need for top ups while out, set of spare swimwear in case they are upset to stay wet but still want to be in the sand, couple of small buckets each (one to build castle with and one to collect stuff) & a spade, a tennis ball or blow up ball to play catch with. Sarongs rather than towels to get dry and use as spare clothes for them if needed. Frozen bottle of water to be a cool pack with any fresh food in a mini cool bag & a few snacks. If we plan to stay all day I take the pop up tent and a couple of toys to play with inside it. In the U.K. a wetsuit and neoprene socks/boots are handy. It sounds like a lot but I can easily pack all of that aside from the tent as well as a thin wrap dress a swimsuit for me in a fairly small back pack.

Look for a beach that also has rock pools for all day entertainment. Be prepared to go and join them exploring vs expecting to sit in one place (a small waterproof bag that holds keys/card/cash/phone is helpful as everything else can be left at the tent while you look round). Don’t stress about the sand and just accept it gets everywhere but you can easily wash it off when you get home or back to your hotel. When they are still small wash their feet off in the sea and then carry them to the tent to dry them and put shoes on or even off the beach entirely. It is easier when they are bigger but can still be good fun when they are teeny.

All that said if you hate it do something else that you’ll also enjoy. In the end part of the reason my kids love the beach is that we also like it and we enthusiastically build castles, clamber round rock pools and swim in the sea with them. There are so many other fun outdoor things you can do there is no need to suffer through the beach if you don’t like it.

You’ve cancelled your holiday? 🫤

I've always had a nice time at the beach with toddler because he's happy and entertained. Maybe not in that heat though!

Just let them get sandy and put them in the shower back at where you're staying? It won't hurt them or you. Are they normally fine washing or have they gone off it on holiday? We bribe ours with dummies as he hates washing at the best of times.

And our always ate loads and loads of sand (why, I'm not too sure). Other than a few sandy nappies you wouldn't be able to tell.

Possibly they are picking up on your dislike of sand and that's part of why they're bothered by it? Just a thought.

With mine at that age I found the following helped

Before you leave the sea fill a bucket with water to wash their feet when you are off the sand (not until)

towelling hoodie or dress type thing to go over swimmers - don't bother with getting them dressed afterwards.

Bin bags on their seats if you are driving off the beach.

As soon as you are home plonk them in the shower - hose down, remove swimmers and re hose. Sand washes out of hair if you cba to wash it with shampoo etc.

DC with long hair - comb through industrial amounts of conditioner in the morning. Plait hair, twist up into buns and leave there all day. when you get to the bathroom rinse under shower and apply industrial quantities of detangling spray or LOreal 8 second oil.

We always found that digging a hole with a ledge halfway down to serve as a seat kept a one year old reasonably contained whilst you dealt with the 3 year old - especially if there were a number of sandcastles in easy reach for demolition.

I had beach days in my garden, two paddling pools one with sand in (bought cheap in aldi) my dc loved it.