Just arrived on holiday with sisters kids

[EllyRoff]

They’re driving me insane already. I’ve never known kids so messy. Within 5 minutes of being here a full glass of juice was spilt over the sofa. They wander around with their dinner plates gravy spilling everywhere, potatoes falling onto the floor and getting trod on, squished into the carpet - the place looked like a disaster zone by the first evening.
yesterday morning they had cocopops for breakfast, one whole bowl got knocked off the table onto the floor, chocolate milk everywhere. Sister completely unbothered by it, just scrubbed it with her foot. One of them then got a yogurt out, ripped the lid off - yogurt splattered up their clothes. Lid chucked on floor (naturally landing face down on carpet). She then spun around resulting in yogurt going flying everywhere, all over the sofa and up the glass of the patio doors.

We went to a nature park, everything was pristine, Nephew got a milkshake, it ended up all over the table, all over his hands and face and then when he went to put the carton in the bin he somehow managed to get milkshake all down the front of the bin.

its driving me insane and I have another week of this. I’ve banned them from my bedroom after they trod mud all over my white duvet.

sister thinks I’m being uptight so there is already tension but I’m starting to feel myself feeling really frustrated with the kids. There is no respect for anything.

And when your late cleaning and the next guest cannot check in and complains and when there’s stains that won’t come out and again the next guest complains because they are paying ££££& for a premium stay and get a shabby stain house/lodge/caravan.

All because of one lazy guest.

We leave it how we expect to find it providing the items are there. So if no hoover we can’t hoover but will of swept, washing up done, beds stripped or not depending on instructions. Towels in a single piles. Used to go around with cleaning wipes any finger prints on the glass doors which alway seem to get missed.

its booked in her name

That's good news at least.

I'm assuming your sister is an exhausted single mum
Or maybe solo parenting right now and not used to it so exhausted?

I may be a 'scruff' but I tend to clean up all in one go at the end of a meal rather than pick up
Each thing as it drops (I have a two year old) to save my back- maybe she's in that habit and just plans to do a tidy up at the end of the week. She is probably used to living in slight chaos and you're clearly not.
I think pp are being mean and judgy to mum especially if she's on her own.
It's the kids holiday too, if they want to eat outside they should be able to.

I think they are too young to be expected to stay in one place and eat perfectly, but not too young to at least attempt to clean up messes they make/use trays etc.

If it's just the meals you dislike then just eat away from them - own it and say you find messes stressful and you need a break from dining with kids - but if you don't like any of it then do your own activities and catch up with your sister after bedtime.

Yabu for going on holiday with young kids and expecting it to be orderly and peaceful.

Actually I have just re- read it and I take back some of what I just wrote - I do agree they should be told to stay still while eating as they are clearly very very clumsy kids!

I’ll never understand why people post about close family members when they know some of the shite their sibling is gonna get and all the horrible names their own nephews/nieces will get. Fucking horrible.

the kids are 4 and 6, not teens. They aren’t pigs or feral or disgusting. They need guidance from ADULTS. That can be from a parent or an aunt you know! I would also agree with another poster who said the sister might be on her arse and ignoring it because she’s struggling.

either way I’m sure there’s much better ways of going about it than posting her and her DC on MN to be verbally bashed.

me too. leave your sister to deal with the mess.

This sounds pretty extreme for that age children.
Even if it is down to lax parenting.
Most dc don’t give food a second thought once they’re distracted by something else let alone run around with their plates.

This is one of my major bugbears. Kids can be messy but lack of cleaning it up is what is most disgusting. I think it’s disrespectful to make a mess in a space that doesn’t belong to you then leave it for someone else to clean up. I was a single mum for a long time and my kids didn’t trash our holiday accommodation and I cleaned up after them if they spilt something. Being a tired struggling single mum doesn’t mean it’s ok to scuff spilt food into a carpet with your foot or let your kids make a load of mess. If you want to do that in your own house then do, but it’s not your house, and paying to let a place doesn’t mean you should treat it badly whilst you stay there.

Bad table manners around food is really gross especially when it’s not your own kids. I don’t think any parent should expect other people to clean up their kids sloppy messes. It’s avoidable if you just ask them to sit down, but if you like them wandering around spilling food, you have to be prepared to clean it up when it happens?

This is like when people allow their kids to absolutely destroy the tables in restaurants with food, tissues etc and it’s all over the floors, ground into the menus and they pay the bill and walk off from the apocalypse leaving the lowly paid service staff to clean up I would be so embarrassed to do that

Why isn't the over child at least in school?
This says a lot about her attitude to parenting tbh.

Thank goodness that it's at least booked in her name, and presumably on her card

If all this is as described she'll probably squeal like crazy if charged, but frankly I hope she is ... it's probably the only way people like this will learn

Your sister is the problem here. I’d be asking why she has such low standards for them. My kids are the same age and have never split a whole bowl of anything. I take food to the table and they sit and eat it there.

🤣🤣🤣🤣and there it is mumsnet police.

wondered how long that one would take to come up.

They do sound like particularly clumsy kids - but them I had those and you do make sure they sit at tables - you do remind them to take of shoes and pick things up and be careful of glasses or mop up if spilled.

Though when kids were toddlers MIl used to put us all on edge making a huge song and dance about immediatley clearing up crumbs or minor issues - making kids and us on edge cauing more problems - in end DH finally snapped it's our dam floor and we'll clean it up at the bloody end of meal. By 4 though all were used to sitting at table and not making messes.

If you can't come home maybe you'd feel better if you could get away at meal times or for a few hours.

I'd be getting a cab to the nearest station and a train home on my own, and lesson learnt !!

TBH I can imagine you are spending your holiday sitting there constantly watching them to pick up on their behaviour. You should use the time to sit back and enjoy your holiday. I reckon you are making it sound so much worse than it is.

I think you just let them get on with it , go for a walk at kids meal times for your blood pressure, never go on holiday with them again. I have naturally messy children that constantly needed curtailed at that age. They only eat at a table though and at that age I d trained them to go around with a brush to pick up stray food, they are older now so wipe down the table clean the floor, load and unload the dishwasher. I cook and clean the kitchen so it seems fair.

Ugh, her attitude is one of these entitled ones who expect someone else to clear up their crap. She and her kids sounds absolutely gross and disrespectful. I couldn't spend a week with people like that and I'd probably go home.

I have 4 kids and no way would they do this on someone else's property, personal or commercial. They are not as considerate at home! But that's pur problem to deal with.

If it's stressing you out and you won't lose too much, say you are ill and go home? If you are going to soend the time stressed and unhappy, then its not worth it!

Those kids need a good spanking/time out/other form of discipline (spanking is a normal form of discipline in my country, as long as its reasonable).
You should really consider talking to your sis, like how can her kids drop everything they eat or hold and your sis doesn't care?
(PS your sis rlly needs to learn how to teach kids properly)

You might be being a bit unreasonable about the 4 year old - if your sister was telling him to be more careful/get back to the table and was cleaning up after him. But a six year old should know better and from what you’ve said it doesn’t seem like your sister is even attempting to put boundaries in place. I wonder how they manage with school meals?

But it’s a holiday and you are there now so I think you are going to have to grit your teeth and bare it - save the going nuclear for if they get mess on your own stuff (otherwise you are going to be exhausted by the end of this holiday).

Yes, she does, but not by hitting them. It is not necessary to hit children to teach them not to make this level of mess.

I recently went on a similar style holiday with my 3 ans 4 year olds and some friends and their similar aged kids. They got a little pizza sauce on some bedsheets, cookie crumbs on the floor and occasional spill at the table. We had a massive pack of wipes and just wiped up after them/ got the hoover out(which they loved helping with).
They were messy but definitely didn't trash the place - no way I'd let them walk with gravy on a plate.
We banned them from playing in the grown ups bedrooms too - there needs to be some boundaries!

Hitting is never reasonable. 🙄

Depression hardly applies here, did you not see OP said that when one of the children spilt food on the floor, her sister ground it in with her foot instead of cleaning it .

Tell her you will not be cleaning up after them. Pack and go home. Some holiday 😕