To be hating my family holiday

[Wineplz90]

Currently away on holiday with DC 7 and Partner.
Absolutely sick and can't wait to return in three days time.
Hotel with slide and pool etc, been on trips and generally tried to do stuff they will enjoy.
All we've had is moaning and not an ounce of peace even for 5 minutes.
Won't even sleep in their own bed which is literally in touching distance from ours.
Partner has been great and we've tried to take turns doing stuff but it's still been really really hard work.
Is this very ones experience 🙄🙄🙄 I'm just disappointed I guess

@LaMadameCholet so did we as children! Any moaning would have been quickly sit down. But we were always happy to be on holiday!

What do you do at home that’s different? Do you let him sit on screens all day?

Single parent who has always taken child on hols on own.. it's hard work! As you are their play buddy etc.. so I never sit and read a book by the pool as I'm in when he's in etc. They will soon be grown and will want different hols. Mine is now older and likes to spend time on his tablet or phone and that gives me a bit of peace :)

I used to hate family holidays as a kid. I just wanted to be out playing with my friends and at home. Being away, dragged round sites and doing stuff I wasn't really interested in doing. Just seemed like hassle.
As an adult I'm pretty similar. Holidays are a lot of work and money. Although a change of scene does do u good, if you make the effort.

My kids are happiest if the are at the beach every day. They’d hate a city break though.

What do you people do in cities to make kids hate them? Cities are full of museums with kid activities, parks with interesting play areas, a harbour/ airport/ view of hill or beach to look at, tour bus or boat trips, lego or other niche shops, dungeons or high buildings, markets, etc.

I think half the problem is we put pressure on ourselves to have the best, most perfect time and when it doesn't work out like that it's easy to feel pissed off and resentful especially when you've spent a lot of money.
On our holiday I felt the kids had loads of screen time in between the pool/beach. Basically whenever we were in the room they were on screens. Sometimes had to resort to using them at meal times for the little one too. I remember saying to dh it's just like being at home, they don't care where they are they just want bloody YouTube.
The key is to lower expectations. Don't think that just because you've gone somewhere new and spent loads of money that they'll suddenly be different kids. If anything the change of routine sends some kids wild (I'm lucky that mine are pretty good with this and actually tend to sleep and eat better than they do at home).
But yeah, holidaying with small kids is not really a holiday. Nor is holidaying with grumpy teens. I'd say the sweet spot age is probably 6-10 when they're old enough to take part in clubs and stay up late but still young enough to actually enjoy spending time with you.

To paraphrase what Alain de Botan once said about the philosophy of holidays on TV, they'd be nice if you didn't take yourself (or your family) on them. I'm just back from two weeks of family "adventure" (meaning complaining). Fun!

I want to come on your holidays 😄

In response to op though, one of my kids is happy wherever. She takes books and likes swimming and reading and visiting places. The other (younger) feels out of his comfort zone although he very specifically does like a luxurious place to stay 😆. He's better if he knows exactly where he's going and what he's doing. I suspect he'd love it if we took along a friend for him to play with too.

I have just had an absolutely brilliant family holiday at a Sports and Crafts Hotel (Manor Resort in Devon). Had wall to wall activities with something for everyone, so many different crafts, sports and a spa! Have a look!

We've just returned from two weeks in France with our only child 9 year old. We stayed on a campsite for 10 days and in hotels for 4. She was absolutely fine with us in the hotels, happily coming on day trips etc. On the campsite however she was whinging and moaning every time we took her out because she just wanted to be in the pool/ playing with friends. And then after the friends left she was moping around, even though we tried our best to play with her. Holidays with only children are difficult. We try very hard to go to places where there will be potential friends (these sort of places are not my ideal holiday, I'd rather be away from all other people!), but because you cannot guarantee someone of the right age and nationality being there who will want to play it is all quite stressful until she finds someone. Luckily this year she found another only child who was 8 so that was perfect. Last year she befriended the french girl opposite which was also good. But it is still quite stressful until that happens. Need to think about our approach going forward - I think we need holiday clubs but nielsons/ mark warner etc are much more expensive than campsites! We did a week in NYC earlier this year and we were so busy that was great, no moaning whatsoever. We also did Camp Bestival this summer and she was not happy there as most people are already in big groups, so not much friend making potential. She did find someone on the last day. She prefers pools to beaches, very happy with a city break also. Her main requirement is pool and friends to make.

I went away last week with my 10yo & 13yo, both are autistic and I'm AuDHD. We had an awful time as they were out of their safe space and routine, despite them choosing the holiday (Butlins) I've realised we should have planned a lot better so they knew what to expect. I'm not the best at dealing with overwhelming situations, so a pretty miserable holiday really. In the past I've taken them away individually, but all of us together seemed too much