To think holidays with teens/preteens are just rubbish

[ExtrovertedIntrovert1]

Paid a fortune because it's summer holidays.
UK holiday because they both weren't keen on the idea of abroad and it was too expensive anyway.
Everything is "boring".
Tried visiting towns looking round shops. Boring.
Theme parks? No, boring.
Beach? Pointless
Castles or things of historical interest (Ha, absolutely ridiculously boring)
Museums? Haha
Every time we attempt at outing it's just miserable faces then the oldest will eventually pipe up "can we go back to the caravan".... so we can just sit around, on phones, doodling, etc. Basically stuff they would be doing at home.

I know this is probably within the realms of normal, but it's so pointless and boring. Spent a fortune and time/effort researching things that might be fun to do but it's just a waste of time. I even ended up suggesting that I'll just holiday on my own next year but in reality that won't happen. Does anyone do that? I love holidays, beaches, visiting different places. It's depressing to think holidays won't be fun again until they're old enough to leave at home.

Pointless thread but just needed to vent.
Please don't reply if your preteens/teens just LOVE holidaying and you always have a tonne of fun. I don't want to hear it 😂

Gosh I could have written this. I'm refusing to take my son abroad this summer and next cos of the attitude and the fact he just moans its too hot all the time and wants to sit in the room on his phone.
He Gets bored in th3 pool alone.
We don't have any friends we could go with and I don't fancy taking a friend away for him

I Suggested we go explore Paris in half term when it's cooler - nope too much walking (effort) he suggested Iceland or Monaco (most expensive places he's seen on tiktok).
He doesn't want to do activities holidays like potters
It's going around and around in circles.

He always expects a holiday with me. His dad hasn't taken him away once in 12 years.

We're
Away and Dts have just turned 13, they're ok so far but I don't think I'll be paying £££ to go away next year banned in the thunderous teen faces around the pool!

Monaco

Agree with @littlebabycheeses99 - we started cruises when DC were about at age. It's great, I can sit by the pool and read, DH can go to the gym then the pub, and DC go off and do whatever they want to, kids club, cinema, arts and crafts.. we all meet for dinner and sometimes for other meals if we're hungry at the same time. On port days we take a short excursion and see sights, then it's back to holidaying apart together.

Haha Monaco!
My oldest suggested Iceland too (purely cos it's "not annoyingly hot" nothing to do with the spectacular glaciers, northern lights etc 😂

DH and I were talking about this the other night despite our kids being a way off this sort of age yet. We've decided if they want to be miserable arseholes then they can stay at home and forego a holiday if they'd prefer. There are many places that DH and I want to visit that the other doesn't so we'll do them alone. The other can stay at home and then swap later in the year just so the kids don't ring child line and say we've abandoned them 🤣. We really don't want to sacrifice our annual leave and take expensive school holiday time breaks if it's just going to be miserable.

100% cruising is our kids favourite holiday. DS16 and DD14 will sign up for teen club, spend 24hrs hanging about awkwardly and saying everyone’s ‘weird’ but very quickly have a gang to hang about with. We literally bump into them occasionally around the ship, they go to buffet lunch and dinner with their new mates and happily come out for excursions with us during the day. We all get to do our own thing and be together at the same time. Hotels with a football pitch and organised activities, darts, pool, table tennis etc are also a hit. It breaks up the day as they aren’t into sunbathing and again offers opportunities to meet other kids. Neither are my ideal holidays but it means I get to sit in the sun and read/relax and some alone time with DH.

Neilson is what you need

Haven’t tried Neilson but we did do Mark Warners once and DC1 participating in watersports bagged us our own legendary “Veniceface” pic…

Could you get a surf lesson?

I remember these painful years!

Our best holidays with teens were Copenhagen and Amsterdam, Berlin as they enjoy the unfamiliar I suppose, liked cycling and they both like taking photos on proper cameras so there is more of interest in these places.

That said eldest enjoyed Spain and being allowed in the bar/restaurants late at night.

My kids have never been like that, but if they were, when you're offering to do nice stuff for them and they didn't come up with any ideas, I'd just carry on and ignore any complaints. If you can't please them, you may as well please yourself.

I hear you and have decided no more holidays. Even low cost ones cost a fortune. They don’t enjoy them and so I don’t enjoy them. The money I save will go towards school trips. It is such a shame because when they were little I looked forward to exploring with them. They are old enough to do that but have no interest.

years ago I took mine on holiday and my then 14 year old literally went to bed for the week and watched TV and gamed
I was pulling my hair out
now he lives in NZ and I wish I could still have a week of him on holiday even if he was in bed !

Have you tried Turkey? Tends to be cheaper. Or fly from Scotland at the end of August, also a full 14 nights can be better value.

...or as my 14 yo DD once said to me, "there are no rude and horrible teenagers, just bad parents who don't understand us"

Yeah, she's delulu. There are loads of rude and horrible teenagers.

I have a 9 year old who moans about holidays already. She's so spoiled for holidays it's ridiculous. AI with organised activities that she can take herself off to, has been the way, even though that's not the adults preferred holiday at all. Went last year with my brother and his kids, thinking that would be good for them - they could play together - but mostly they all made other friends.

Oh no, we're away for 3 weeks. You're putting the fear of God into me!

Last holiday the preteen slept lots, didn't want to watch the entertainment. We let him go back to the room when he didn't and carried on the nice time without him.

He also was very body conscious. Luckily I had packed a rash top otherwise I'm not convinced he would have gone in the pool. Must remember to buy another one this weekend!

We're self catering this time in a small town abroad. Not planning on eating out much which will cause drama. If they're moping around the house dh and I will leave them to it sounds the best way.

The self consciousness is a factor here too.
It's warm but the oldest only wears big baggy things.
I remember being like this too.
Biology is a weird thing. At the time of life when we look the best, we are the most self conscious!

It could just be a personality/can't cope well with change of routine etc thing. On one of the threads, I pointed out that in the 70's only a tiny percentage of primary aged children would be taken to restaurants of an evening and also on planes. The majority of children's holiday in Liverpool was Colomendy with the school, a ferry to the isle of man and community organised coach trips. The adults would leave us to it and be smoking etc away from us. At the ages quoted on these threads, we'd be off on our own and take younger children with us. Even today the majority of children aren't taken on abroad holidays.

I dunno if things have changed that much. I remember being similar in the 80s/90s. I didn't have a phone or device either but I still was a grumpy, annoying twat.

@ExtrovertedIntrovert1 looked the best? What teen looks their best? It was all puppy fat, acne, greasy hair, features that didn't fit my face yet, bad makeup
It's all been up since then 😂

@shudawudacuda
What campsite did you stay at ??

Go with friends. Theirs and yours.

We did this once it worked really well