To not understand the "holidays with small children is just parenting in a different place" complaints?

[LadyGreyjoy]

We have an 18 month old and have just got back from a week all inclusive in Spain. Obviously we did just parent out daughter in a different place, but I don't see that as a bad thing and certainly not a reason to say there was no point in going. I love being a mum, I waited a long time for my daughter due to infertility and I've been dreaming of family holidays for years. Whilst I still had to do the parenting (which I enjoy doing anyway) I didn't have to cook, wash up or clean, the food was lovely and far better than we cook at home, I did no laundry for a week and instead of working all day and only getting two hours in the evening with my daughter a day I got to play in the pool/on the beach with her all day every day for a week. After she was asleep instead of watching TV and being too tired to do anything we sat on the balcony listening to the music from the bar and drank cocktails and chatted, real quality time with my husband I am usually too tired to enjoy.

On here there are many threads making out a holiday with small children is shit and not worth the effort and that hasn't been my experience at all. The journey there and back was a bit rough and exactly what I expected it to be like tbh. Other than that it's been bliss and I would 10/10 recommend people go and do it. I was kind of dreading it after reading all the threads here but I wish I hadn't worried about it so much now.

I think used the word privileged first and I realize now that I meant lucky not privileged.

Lucky to have been able to book a nice holiday and lucky that no external factor spoilt it like food poisoning or bad weather etc.

That type of holiday is not open to everyone and does not speak for all holidays. Being deaf to that fact and that the holiday experience varies hugely for people for a variety of reasons- finance, circumstances, SEND, disability etc is pretty privileged.

I think most people would be able to save for 5 years to take a just 1 week AI to Spain out of peak season for 2 adults!

Oh I totally agree

the op is being daft but I suspect there’s more to this. Who comes back from a first supposedly wonderful holiday in 5 years and thinks… I know what I’ll do, start a mumsnet thread about my lack of comprehension about how people have different holiday experiences unless… well, doesn’t exactly scream a happy person generally does it?

and if you knew you had another 5 years to wait (and then would be much more as not out of season due to school age child) maybe you’re feeling a bit blue!

Totally agree and the way OP has some interacted with posters is as passive aggressive, childish and petty as they have been.doesn't scream happy at all and seems to be obsessed with having the last word

It will go down like a lead balloon with this op though. Expects fisticuffs!

I know..we are one step from 'your mum'

But my kids would have hated it and holidays aren’t just about the adults! I think experiencing other cultures is important. Blowing 5 years of money to be tied up in one holiday in an all inclusive hotel wouldn’t have been in their best interest or mine! Wed have all gone nuts. What little we had we spread out for cheaper experiences that kept us going but yes often felt like same shit in a different location. However pulling a meal together on a budget with squabbling kids under my feet in an Amsterdam apartment or tent in France are all experiences they learnt a lot from. My time for relaxation on holiday is now as I come up to retirement.

Yes
my point was… to see the op as privileged and stealth boasting is far off the mark

I can see why it would have been a real, lovely break for the OP, as she’s a working mum and, it appears, doesn’t see as much as she would like of her DD. And a lovely all-inclusive holiday with an easy 18 month old. Plus, she hadn’t been away for a long time, and it was their first time away with their DD.

The OPs who complain that holidays mean ‘same shit different location’ are mostly SAHMs/part-time or on maternity leave, which means that of course it won’t feel so much like a break for them! (That’s how I felt.) It doesn’t mean that we didn’t want to go on the holiday or that we didn’t enjoy giving our DC new experiences.

The really bad holiday threads where OPs wish they hadn’t gone tend to be where the relationship with their partners is on the rocks and they were left to do all the work whilst their partner disappeared to the pub. Which would be a shit holiday for anyone.

2 adults to a (well behaved) one child at a relatively easy age in a very well set up place is probably the reason you had a good time.

Quite often on threads, I’m left wondering if the OP will come back. Why on this one am I hoping to goodness she doesn’t?😂

If you really meant that you wouldn't resurrect a thread that died two days and that OP hasn't been on for three days just to provoke her.