What are your thoughts on holidaying without your children?

[Dinoswearunderpants]

Curious to know if people think it's ok to regularly go on holiday without their kids.

I personally like going away with my DS but I see so many people on social media often go away without their kids.

If you do it, do you take your kids away another time?

Love to know peoples thoughts.

I guess the AIBU is

I don't holiday without my kids. I only get so much annual leave and would rather spend it with them.

I went away once with a friend when my DD was only 1, I cried my eyes out after 2 days! 😅 I've never been away without her since (apart from the odd weekend or night) but she has been away for a week with her Nan and I missed her so much!

I am lucky enough to be able to holiday with and without my DC & would highly recommend it

I'm divorced with 50 50 custody, so I take them on trips but also do a fair number of trips without them. Enjoy both, but child free is definitely more adult and relaxing...

No, it’s not okay. You shouldn’t have had children if you didn’t want them to be part of your life.

You had all the time before and all the time after to do your own thing. Being a parent comes first.

We do a couple of long weekends a year without DS.
It's great to adult time as a couple.
We also have plenty of holidays and trips with DS too though so we're very fortunate to be in a position to do that.

Interesting mix of responses already.

My DS is nearly 3 so maybe when he's older I might be more inclined but even then I'd likely leave him with hubby. I couldn't see us both going away and leaving him.

I do both!
We do family holidays with the kids, and a few city break holidays just me and DH!

I love my kids but i also love museums, sight seeing, adult dinners, late nights and lazy brunches with DH for a few days/nights per year!

I regularly go on holiday without my kids, count down the weeks and months till the next one!

How dramatic!! and complete rubbish!

Why can't you do both? DH and I each take some time to pursue a solo trip each year as well as our main holidays as a family. The DC are perfectly happy and content being with the other parent for a few days, and they're in school anyway so couldn't come along.

If you're asking do you owe it to your kids not to have any fun unless you include them in it... No. That's insane, and also ridiculously and unnecessarily martyring yourself.

@PictureALadybird so when DS' grandparents took him away for the weekend I should've stayed at home?

Make the most of going away with them whilst they are small, mine now never went to go with us.

Since 2021, we've done a weekend away without the children each year.

The children are late teens though so they barely notice, unless something happens to the wifi. They stay at home and my parents come over to stay with them -DPs are only down the road anyway.

We have a main two week holiday in the summer and a week at a half term or Easter for the whole family.

So as a divorced parent, with 50/50 custody arrangements I shouldn't go on holiday when my children are with their other parent?

We do short breaks (just 1 or 2 nights) without DS. Haven't done any more than that yet, but I wouldn't feel bad if we did! I don't think it bothers DS much either. We tell him where we're going and what we'll be doing (walking, sightseeing, eating) and he'd much rather be with a GP with access to Roblox than doing any of that with us. We do have a family holiday every year as well though, and days out/short breaks with him. DH and I love and need time together, just the two of us. There's nothing wrong with that.

Holidays with the family but I also have at least one short (2 day) trip on my own. It's a nice chance to see a show, go to museums the family aren't interested in, eat exotic food thats not kid friendly etc.

I didn't have kids to waste precious annual leave without them. I had kids because I want to do things with them.

I generally go away with DH once a year, for no longer than a week. The kids go on holidays 4x a year so it's not an issue. It's quite nice because our itinerary will be more adult-oriented and we get to stay out late and wake up late. My kids are still young so when we holiday with them we still have to go back after dinner for bedtime and get woken up at 7.

We’ve had a few trips for big birthdays or anniversaries and it’s bliss!!! Longest was 5 days though… it’s hard to get someone to look after them for a holiday!

🙄 good for you. Have a medal 🥇

We do both. Family holidays are nice but so is a break away with just DH having time alone together.

I like it.

I've been housebound for many years so since that began my husband has taken our sons on what we all call a "mancation" while I have a week or a fortnight and one glorious time a month all to myself at home.

When they get back my husband goes away for a few days or a week or so to catch up with friends and sleep and I have things like movie marathons or board game nights with our sons.

It works brilliantly for us. Our sons get to go away and they get to have time with their dad and then with me and me and my husband each get some peace and quiet.

They're in their 20s now and we still do this because we all enjoy it and it's a nice balance of everyone's needs.

We've never gone away together without our sons, not because we'd have any objection to it (in fact it would be lovely) but because when they were toddlers they'd just got their autism diagnoses and nobody would look after them for long then by the time we had people in our lives who would, I was too ill and disabled to leave the house 🤷.

I have always taken breaks from my DC to do solo trips on my very own. DH takes care of them.

Don't much care if it's selfish. I think it is healthy for DC to know that mothers are people too.

I have always had a couple of long weekends with DH and a couple of ‘girls’ weekends
Suits me .
I have no interest in what others do