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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Should kids go on holiday abroad every year?

207 replies

TillyTooms · 27/04/2024 19:21

To grow up well rounded or is it just a nice luxury to have?

Before having kids I imagined we'd be jetting off every year like I did pre kids however having a neurodivergent child has meant I'm not able to work as much as I could previously and our income has seen a reduction.

We have a comfortable income and can do days out and pay for my daughter's hobbies but not enough to jet away every year.

I know this sounds like a stupid question but I just feel like I've let them down somehow.

OP posts:
ChickpeaPie · 27/04/2024 19:22

Of course it’s just a nice luxury

Sunnydays0101 · 27/04/2024 19:23

Of course it’s a luxury. How could you think otherwise ??

thanKyouaIMee · 27/04/2024 19:24

I'm sure you can grow up well rounded either way!

I went on annual foreign holidays, still do a few times a year now. I'm not sure I've ever noticed that I'm more well rounded than anyone else, especially not based on my holidays tbh.

Your DD will grow up well rounded by having loving supportive parents who take an interest in them 😊

Beamur · 27/04/2024 19:24

Of course not. Totally a luxury.
For many people - It's also a choice and preference. We have literally only done it once as a family in nearly 20 years and I have been abroad with DD but not DH twice.
I'm not keen on flying and we love the UK.

Caffeineneedednow · 27/04/2024 19:24

It's a luxury. My kids go to my mother's house a couple times a year which is a 45 mi ute flight and in another country but if my parents lived closer my kids would never have been abroad. Our only other holidays is a couple long weekends camping a couple hours from our house

Sunnydays0101 · 27/04/2024 19:25

Actually, imagine asking if kids should abroad every year - some don’t even gave a UK holiday.

AuntieStella · 27/04/2024 19:25

Total luxury

RaininSummer · 27/04/2024 19:27

I never went abroad as a child. My daughter went twice but once was Disneyland Paris so not exactly a cultural experience. I think its a luxury.

Dacadactyl · 27/04/2024 19:27

Lol, my parents rarely took us abroad and I'd like to think my sister and I are well adjusted.

My kids are also well adjusted and the eldest, age 17, has been abroad less than 5 times on her life.

A holiday abroad is in no way essential. Its just nice to have.

Mountainpika · 27/04/2024 19:28

We never took our children abroad and they seem to have survived into their 40s without suffering any ill-effects.

tracktrail · 27/04/2024 19:28

Pure luxury. It's a privileged life to have holidays at all.

CaptainMyCaptain · 27/04/2024 19:29

I never had a holiday abroad until my 20s. I think I grew up well rounded. Some children have never even seen the sea never mind a holiday abroad.

Of course it's better to have a wide range of experiences but you do what you can afford. It doesn't have to be abroad at all.

redfacebigdisgrace · 27/04/2024 19:29

We barely went abroad as kids. You can have amazing holidays in the UK. Kids don’t need all the bells and whistles anyway. Back to nature holidays are my favourite memories.

Flickersy · 27/04/2024 19:30

It's a massively ridiculous luxury to go abroad every year.

Children have grown up for millennia without travelling abroad and the human race hasn't perished yet.

It's only in the last 40 years or so that travelling abroad for holidays has become commonplace.

WatermelonWaveclub · 27/04/2024 19:30

I have taken my DC abroad but not every year. They can have as good a time in this country. I dislike the attitude on MN that it isn't a holiday unless you go abroad for at least a week. I think that is nonsense.

I've not got much money for a holiday this year so we are going to a caravan for the May Bank Holiday weekend. My DC are really looking forward to it.

Examples of our holidays:
Egypt for a week
Butlins for a weekend
Liverpool for 4 days
Spain for 2 weeks
Holland for 5 days
Bournemouth for a week
Disneyland for 5 days and then into Paris for the weekend
Eastbourne for 4 days

I actually remember one year I took them to stay overnight in a Travel Lodge in Great Yarmouth and we went to Bewilderwood. My DS who was about 8 at the time said that was the best holiday ever!

craxy · 27/04/2024 19:30

Just going abroad doesn't make anyone rounded. Some peoole literally decamp to a resort where they sun and swim in the pool for the entire holiday and don't step outside the resort. How is that going to do anything in terms of rounding someone.

Albionsolutions · 27/04/2024 19:31

its nice. But I had a perfectly fine childhood without going abroad.

Elephantswillnever · 27/04/2024 19:31

I never had a foreign holiday growing up until I went on the French history trip at 15. Spent my 20s travelling my poor dc have never been abroad. I think holidays aren’t everything. Two weeks by a pool annually isn’t going to make you well rounded.

ladybirdsanchez · 27/04/2024 19:31

Of course it's a nice luxury! Millions of kids grow up perfectly happy and well-rounded without having a foreign holiday, or any kind of holiday at all, every year. If you can afford it and it's a priority for your family - great. But it really doesn't have to be abroad. There are masses of wonderful places to visit in the British Isles, places that people fly from the opposite side of the world to see.

Minister01 · 27/04/2024 19:32

Kids need healthy food, to be clean, well loved, access to a good education and generally cared for. Everything else is a bonus.

Well rounded kids have access to extra-curricular activities, outings outside their local area and a community of various people. But most importantly they come from parents who want to encourage their children to be well rounded. I wonder how many holidays children take in the summer are actually enriching vs staying on the beach somewhere hot?

Onetiredbeing · 27/04/2024 19:32

It's a privileged mindset to even think like this. How are international holidays related to being well rounded?

sofiamofia · 27/04/2024 19:32

Absolutely a luxury. I didn't go on a holiday abroad until I was 17 and then it was a school trip. My parents never brought us abroad. They did pay for university educations though.

We go abroad some years, some years we don't. It depends on how much the holiday is going to cost, if we need to do things with the house and also there's loads of culture in our own country they should enjoy.

I know people that bring their kids on the same foreign holiday every year, no culture involved, just beach and water parks. They enjoy it, good for them.

I don't think we owe our children foreign holidays.

LiquoriceAllsorts2 · 27/04/2024 19:33

I do think holidays are important but no reason they need to be abroad every year; lots of great places in uk (assuming that’s where you are)

SockQueen · 27/04/2024 19:34

Most adults never went on annual abroad holidays as kids, and most of us are fairly well-adjusted. I did go abroad roughly once every two years as a kid, but every single trip was to visit and stay with my dad's brother in Germany - so only had to pay for flights. We couldn't afford to go on a "proper" overseas holiday till I was 18.

It's very much a privilege and your kids will be fine without it.

Misthios · 27/04/2024 19:34

Obviously it's a luxury. I was never taken abroad as a child but my parents did take us all over Scotland and gave us the curiosity to be interested in other ways of life. That's what creates well-rounded people. What doesn't create well rounded people is parents who have a deep suspicion of anything "forrin" or who do take them overseas every year but to the same resort where all they do is mix with other British people, eat British food and speak English.