AIBU to be cheesed off with shrieking kids on holiday?

[AnnoyedOnHoliday]

Recently my DP took me on an amazing surprise holiday for my birthday a few weeks ago, 4 nights in a beautiful 5 star hotel - definitely a big treat and really outside of our normal budget so obviously wanted to enjoy it to the absolutely maximum. Hotel was absolutely beautiful and facilities/staff were pretty faultless.

I don't want to say it was ruined but definitely marred by the amount of unruly children. The main pool of the hotel had two pool - a smaller shallow one for kids and another larger one bit more suitable for being able to get a proper swim in. Everyday the main pool as well as the kids one was taken over by kids shrieking in rubber rings, splashing and jumping as well as just being smack bang in the centre of the pool so hard to swim. The area was basically taken over by the constant noise of shouting, screaming, crying and small children sprinting into your sun lounger every two seconds. I found it really hard to concentrate on unwinding and couldn't concentrate on reading my book as so noisy and chaotic and obviously found using the pool for swimming quite annoying also.

The hotel was very much in the countryside so we ate the really great hotel restaurant quite a few breakfasts, lunches and 2 dinners. Every single time, early in the morning, late at night children were sprinting up and down the dining room, running into waiters, more of that shrieking again. More examples but you get the idea.

It seemed to be happening in many different families and every single time I'd look over and they'd be just ignoring their kids or encouraging them to run around so they could have drinks/eat their meal without having to deal with them and 9 times out of 10, I'd never see them being reprimanded for being disruptive.

I get that looking after small children is full on and stressful (I'm really not talking about kids crying/distressed as I know that cannot be helped - referencing the running around shrieking behaviour) but AIBU to think to think it's a bit out of order to just zone out and let everyone have their meals and relaxing time ruined because you're in 'holiday mode' and want some time off parenting?

It just felt a bit jarring that we'd paid to be on holiday too and were basically having to endure everyone else kids.

And @AccidentallyWesAnderson

You have been repeatedly rude and snide to me throughout this thread so it's fascinating to see you call out children generally for their behaviour.

What a excellent example you set.

So yes yabu to complain about children, being children, on holiday, in the school holidays.

These threads are so frequent Maybe MN should start a new "revolting children" section for witches people to share where they've spotted the creatures lately? Plot to turn them into mice if I remember the story correctly?

You have repeatedly jumped on posters who call out poor behaviour - adults and children- in public (including hotel pools). If anyone is setting a poor example it's you. I'm bored of you now.

'So much shit patenting these days' - which days exactly was 'parenting' good - medieval times? 2nd world War? The 70s?

And no one has said kids should act calm and spa like around a pool, unless in a spa.

Adults can be horrible too.

Adults only is no guarantee.

You have repeatedly jumped on posters who call out poor behaviour - adults and children- in public (including hotel pools). If anyone is setting a poor example it's you. I'm bored of you now.

You sound like the sort of person who can't countenance any disagreement.

I'm not surprised kids shouting and playing by a pool would wind you up.

Bored , yes likewise.

I'm as antisocial and intolerant as you could hope to find. I don't particularly like children, except my own and he's long grown up. Babies and toddlers are boring yet despite my confessed misanthropy I don't recognise these descriptions of hordes of our of control children.

Where is this happening?

Ok I don't book holidays anywhere "family friendly" but I can't imagine that if I did I'd be on here complaining that children were noisy at the pool.

And no one has said kids should act calm and spa like around a pool, unless in a spa.

That's the atmosphere OP was expecting.

But she got a busy, shouty pool full of kids.

( Which predictably is the kids fault - remember)

I have noticed kids seem louder these days. Or am I getting older?

*I'm as antisocial and intolerant as you could hope to find. I don't particularly like children, except my own and he's long grown up. Babies and toddlers are boring yet despite my confessed misanthropy I don't recognise these descriptions of hordes of our of control children.

Where is this happening?

Ok I don't book holidays anywhere "family friendly" but I can't imagine that if I did I'd be on here complaining that children were noisy at the pool.*

In all honesty @NatashaDancing I'm not sure.

Lady Mary you're getting older

YANBU 💯
I find it absolutely infuriating that some of today's parents aren't able to, or even bothered about controlling their childrens' behaviour.
Some of these children are going to grow up into insufferable adults 🙄

I now book adult only places.

You are absolutely relentless on this thread, to the point where I couldn’t be bothered responding anymore especially as you repeated called me and @AccidentallyWesAnderson ”snarky and sarcastic” for basically saying anything you didn’t agree with. You can keep selectively not reading my original post and then, hammering your point home but you aren’t going to convince that I have no right to enjoy to enjoy myself on a nice holiday.

No reasoning with you, as your opinions are so black and white. At the end of the day family friendly doesn’t mean that anyone without kids has suck it up and pay loads more to stay at adult only hotel in crap off season weather because people can’t be arsed to parent properly.

It’s pretty obvious you are the type of parent who let’s there kids annoy the s**t out of everyone in the vicinity in public, otherwise you wouldn’t be so relentless in replying to this thread like it’s your job.

“A calm and spa like atmosphere”

Oh yeah, also if your going to quote me, make sure it’s not complete fiction. Didn’t say that. Might make you seem a bit more legit if you didn’t have to embellish, twist words and straight up and make things up.

Yeah this one was actually snarky

The pompous , anti social, self indulgence on this thread ! Self satisfied posters claiming that people can't parent and kids are terrible, self entitled , self centred these days and generally indulged, undisciplined and out of control and we're going to hell in a hand cart. And of course it never used to be like that.

And the shrieking! Because kids have invented shrieking after 2015.

God alive, where is this all happening? These hoards of feral children and pathetic parents. I don't see them.

And of course you have every right to enjoy yourself on your holiday. Who said you didn't?
But you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

You stayed at the wrong sort of place for what you wanted. I'd blame the hotel tbh. They clearly gave the wrong impression about what was on offer. Calm and Spa like is not what you describe.

All those kids were being paid for . They were all guests. And the hotel had accepted all those bookings. And kids are noisy in pools. Shock.

Poster after poster suggested you go out of season or adult only.
You pay your money, you take your choice.

You say " it's obvious " that I let my kids annoy people. Well you don't have a clue. I know that.

I think its obvious you were very disappointed after what should have been a special break. I feel sorry that happened. But it's also obvious you should have gone somewhere else but it's easier to blame 'parenting'.

Next time, choose an adults only hotel. And don't go during school holidays.

There's a huge difference between an acceptable level of child noise and constant shrieking and screaming. The former - yes, go where / when there are no children; the latter, parents need to have some respect for other holiday makers, some of whom are with their own children so can't go to adults only or outside of school holidays. I wouldn't have tolerated my own children screaming and shouting. Not saying they were angels but they would have been taken inside if they hadn't heeded requests to keep the noise down.

What is an adults only hotel? Is that a euphemism for something ?

Okay, I give up. I must be the one being unreasonable.

Literally no point trying to have a conversation with someone who is doing some seriously selective reading.

@PastelFlowerJelly my own children were privileged, there is a world of difference between privilege and feral. There’s a lot of lazy parenting and it’s responsible for bad behaviour by those parent’s children.
Sorry but every action or in this case inaction has consequences.

*Okay, I give up. I must be the one being unreasonable.

Literally no point trying to have a conversation with someone who is doing some seriously selective reading.*

Sorry I said " calm and spa like" I thought that's how you had described the hotel.

But 🤷‍♀️ doesn't change my thoughts on this.

And I think the band wagon of posters jumping on to call out children as if they're some sort of vermin species is vile and it always happens.

And I didn't feel we were having a conversation anyway. You got the hump pages back.

No surprises at the comments really telling you ro book adults only or book outside school holidays. Typical of the entitlement from people with kids. How dare you dare to have a hokiday wheb you want to, no you should book outside school holidays then.

How dare to expect to go to a hotel where you want to go and expect a normal level of noise...no you must book adults only if you want peace and quiet(which isn't something op said she was expecting) which will be in a location you don't want to go.

And quite frankly if its a spa hotel the whole point of going to a spa is for a chilled peaceful time to relax and restore, id be annoyed if it was full of shrieking kids.

Not to mention their was a kids pool and a main pool well surely kids go to the kids pool. Otherwise why would they have called it a kids pool, I mean hardly rocket science is it.

I'm with you OP. You should be able to book your holiday at any time of the year and the location you want to go and expect to have a nice time and that other ppl are not causing above normal noise and nuisance.

Now if u said u had booked centeparcs...well then you would be very unreasonable 😆🤣

It's a hotel that doesn't allow anybody under 16 to stay. Plenty of them around - you can search for adult only on all the main package websites like Tui.

I feel a bit embarassed now because I genuinely didn't realise these days existed! I always assumed adult hotel was like some kind of holiday sex dungeon with carpet in the walls and handcuffs included in the room services or something ! Oh dear!

They are louder.

My mum's theory was that the ones spending all day in childcare have to shriek to get any attention from the minders.