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.

I'm starting to wonder if shrieking is a vaccine side effect 🙈 it's not just kids it's teenage girls and young women too ! And I'm sure it didn't used to be this bad !

I have children and sorry, I @floribunda18 I absolutely get annoyed by screaming children. I certainly wasn’t allowed to run screaming and jumping over other guests as a child and I certainly wouldn’t let mine behave in this way.

My hours is currently hell because of the ghastly trashy families on either side of me who don’t watch their children and just allow them to scream from morning to sun down.

Mine are taught indoor voices and in public voices, that means no screaming. They are welcome to scream when we are in the middle of nowhere at the beach/farm etc but not where it impacts other people.

*my house

Your snarky , sarcastic reply makes it pretty obvious that you're not particularly amenable or sociable and probably got on your high horse from the off.

There's a difference between being a bit excited and this..
this is what I listen to daily from 2 doors down and every evening in summer. Yes the window is open, it was warm and it makes little difference if closed
https://youtube.com/shorts/l02sS2cbqEo?feature=share

This isn't acceptable anywhere except in the middle of an open field maybe

We have no children but before We retired we had no option but to go in school holidays DH worked in education and I worked in a place where most business took place during term time and taking holidays during term time was frowned upon.

Not everyone has this luxury
Teachers who don't have children for example

I have noticed that lots of kids shriek all the time, these days. Loads of adults seen encourage it, from what I have seen. Many parents don't want to parent to bring up semi-civilised adults.

I have noticed that lots of kids shriek all the time, these days. Loads of adults seen encourage it, from what I have seen. Many parents don't want to parent to bring up semi-civilised adults.

Go adults only next time. The problem is for some parents they only have the one holiday with the children, so they relax and don't pick up on things as they should in order that they also get to enjoy the break.

Children’s screaming does seem to have a particularly piercing almost painfulquality these days. I’m sure it wasn’t so bad in the past.

I get that it's annoying, but it sounds like your DP didn't do their research. It's the middle of the Summer holidays.

If I were booking a holiday at this time of year (or any time!) I would carefully looking at reviews with a fine-tooth comb to check what other people said about it, and I'd definitely book an adults-only place at this time of year if I wanted peace and quiet.

You don't really have any legitimate complaint if you didn't do your research.

These two posts don’t sum it up at all, for us anyway

Dc are good but I’m still eyeing up adults only when they’re older

Adult only hotel is a game changer

Adult only hotels every time

I only go on adult only holidays now. I can't be doing with these feral kids everywhere.

YANBU. For this very reason we always book out of season and stay in adult only hotels.

Here we go.

Every sentence ending with " these days ..."

Whatever it starts with.

Parenting

Kids

Shrieking

When I was younger

This kind of shrieking is giving me flashbacks 😂

Jokes aside, totally agree and for what it's worth that kinda madness is absolutely what I'm taking about.

For what it's worth - I do actually like kids and have no problems with them in general - but the mad shrieking like this whilst parents are totally passive is selfish. Is it really so difficult to expect that you might have to control your kids behaviour if you choose to have them?

Parenting standards have definitely gone downhill.

Don’t get me wrong as a child years ago of course I loved screaming and shouting but if it got too bad, OTT or carried on for longer than necessary I was soon told to pack it in.

Why should adults who want a peaceful or normal holiday have to pay extra for an adults only one?

I get that parents want to zone out kids noise but it shouldn’t be inflicted on others.

For info, parents have a holiday home in SW France, near a big water park and not far from beaches. I’ve rarely if ever heard French kids scream, whinge and screech as much as English ones do there. The English kids that do tend to holiday there tend to be middle/upper class so more moderated behaviour. If the French kids do screech etc they’re soon told off.

I’m away now - at an all inclusive that has the kind of large groups you are referring to. So much shit /lazy parenting going on. Kids doing stupid stuff in the pool and parents just lying down sunbathing. Mine are 7 and 5 and absolutely no way would I be letting them in the pool out of their depth on their own. Yes they are splashing about on their own with noodles but we are standing with them should they get into difficulty. But so many kids of a similar age just leaping into the pool, plus there are tiled sun beds in the water, and they are jumping from bed to bed, will take a second for them to slip, bang their head and fall in the water and their parents are just lying on sun beds further away with eyes closed.

Children don’t drown with flailing arms and splashing, they will usually just slip under quietly

Agreed, seems to be the general sentiment and it's adults only all the way next year! 💃

Well at least if they’re ever murdered you can say sorry I didn’t think it was different from screams during play! (Joking).

And yes I would trip a child up who’s constantly running past my table in a hotel restaurant and didn’t stop if I asked it to.

This is why I tend to stay in adult only hotels

The only things I think aren’t reasonable is the running around in the dining room. That’s just dangerous. And the not making it clear on their website that they are family friendly, at least during school holidays).

The rest is down to the sort of hotel the place wants to be. I certainly appreciated high end hotels that didn’t mind children behaving like they might at home when my 2 were small. That didn’t ban them from the better facilities or make faces at them for not regulating their volume or their speed all of the time. They made a break feel like a break instead of just doing the same old parenting grind in a different location or spending all the time stressed out trying to get kids to behave like mini adults and never being able to use the facilities you were paying all the money for.

I can see why people might not want to be around that if they don’t have kids (or even if they do!), but hotels don’t have to all be the same and that’s why research into where you’re staying is essential. You were in the wrong place for you, but if any of those parents had booked at the sort of hotel you’d have enjoyed they’d have been in the wrong place for them. It’s not more unreasonable for a hotel to cater to these parents than it would be for a hotel to cater to you rather than these parents.

On a side note - I rarely see hotel pools used for proper swimming during the day unless they are attached to gyms. If it’s not kids splashing around, it’s usually adults hanging around the edges sipping drinks or floating around. I always get up early to swim lengths in hotels.