Bedtimes on holiday??

[Thechaseison71]

Taken from a comment on another thread.

Do people really stay so obsessed about bedtimes that when they are on holiday the fo nothing all evening except sit in a hotel with a sleeping child?

And miss going out for dinner ( many restaurants open later abroad) or even hotel entertainment

From a personal perspective had mine as toddlers asleep in a buggy and carried on with the holiday. What's the point of actually going if you restrict yourself so much?

YABU. - bedtime routine is so important

Yanbu. Like to have a bit of freedom in holiday

Well my daughter would have cried her way through the entertainment so that wouldn’t really improve my life much. And I chose not to have a big age range for my kids so that doesn’t affect me either. But I still believe you can do what you like without my judgement! I promise our early nights aren’t obligatory.

My kids are 10/13 now so everything is different. We don’t really have bedtime at home and less so while on holiday but they still vastly prefer being back at our holiday house in the evening. They don’t particularly love going out for dinner and much prefer if we rent a house with a pool or garden or something and we have snacky tea and a later swim or whatever. We are busy during the day and quieter at night and that works for us 🤷🏻‍♀️

Bedtime routine went out of the window on holiday when mine were little. When they got a bit older - above sleeping in the buggy age, they were quite happy to stay up as late as us.

We had an apartment in Spain at the time so not in a single room in an hotel when we didn’t go out.

No routines for us, didn't fit with our lifestyle - always here and there, caring for family members etc. We didn't realise at the time

a.how lucky we were that the kids acquiesced
b. How nice it was on holidays to just go with the flow. Tired? Sleep... didn't need dark or quiet, or a bed etc.

We'd share a room as we just slept there, or maybe played a game when they were older. Evenings were dinner, walk, plan for tomorrow, drinks, maybe swim, ice cream, whatever takes your fancy at the time.

I guess everyone is different, we have an almost 4 year old who thrives off routine. In Spain recently bedtime was 9pm (8 here when bedtime is usually 7.15) so he stayed up a little later. After he went to bed by the time we had showered and sat on the balcony and had a drink we were ready for bed so it was a none issue for us. DS woke up at the same time anyway so would have been hugely over tired if we’d stretched it out more than that. I look forward to us all staying up a bit later in years to come but having been out all day coming in together after a 6pm dinner is a small sacrifice.

We always stayed in a villa not a hotel.Dc were in bed by 8 when they were about 7. Never wanted to keep them up.

It depends on the child but we didn’t really do bedtimes on holiday. We took DS to an hotel abroad when he was 4 and he kept falling asleep in the bar after dinner. We couldn’t believe our luck!

There were other trips abroad and at home from about 10 months old and I only recall struggling to get him to sleep on the first one. We always ate out and he coped fine with the later nights. If anything it was his preference.

No of course not. You just do whatever works best for your family. Other families with 2 parents and/or smaller age gaps between their kids might prefer to do things differently. Each to their own.

We’ve recently been away with 3YO and we’d take him for a buggy nap about 3pm - he doesn’t nap at all at home. He’d sleep while we had an hour or so to ourselves and then he could stay awake in the evening till gone 10pm and watch the entertainment and have a play with the little friends he made on holiday. If you can, it’s nice to have some flexibility on holiday, we’re quite social people and LO always comes with us to family parties and stays up late.

Depends on the child(ren).
Mine really struggled if up late, leading to over tired and argumentative kids.

This is why I did not holiday in a hotel. Self catering means you can family meal / cook at home, then bedtime means you can sit in lounge while they sleep. I also did not have enough money to eat out like many seem to, so double bonus.

this. And that is the sort of thing kids remember, as it is so different to what they do at home.
I remember going to stay with my Spanish friends a few years ago. My kids playing in the park with theirs in the dark - that is what they loved the most.

When they were babies we put them to sleep in the buggy and enjoyed adult dinners. When they got a little older we would always fly east so we could take advantage of the time difference (keep on uk time) which meant bedtime around 9pm (and a nice lie in as getting up at 9 too!) - we would stay places with 2 bedrooms or at least a balcony, once kids in bed we would have a drink or play games. Now they are 7 and 10, we all go to bed at around 10!

I say do whatever works for your family and sod what others think.

God what a judgy, smug thread. You do you, as they say.

I'm not too sure why the constant confusion around Brits and early bedtime? We tend to do that because for 9 months of the year it's cold and dark by late afternoon and it's not necessarily easy/worthwhile to shift bedtimes for the other 3 months. Clearly late bedtimes work well in warm climates where there is desire to be out later in the evenings. Ultimately, it's different strokes for different folks!

This is such a stupid thread, its like youre trying to judge other parents for the type of holiday they want whilst saying drinks and hotel entertainment is something not to be missed.

All children, adults, families are different with different wants and needs from their holiday.

I absolutely hate holiday hotel entertainment and would far rather be on a balcony by myself reading a book as I have 2 under 2y and get 0 alone time. I have been on all sorts of holidays before children from safari, road trips, Australia, Europe, America, spa retreats etc but the sort of holiday I want now is to get a lot of sleep and eat without cooking and read a book while my children sleep so I can play with them the next day. So please dont pity those of us sitting on a balcony relaxing, we pity people sitting at the bar all night.

When we had 1 young baby we were much more chilled about routine (on holiday and at home) but everyone being in the same apartment or same room means if 1 person wakes we are all up and ive 2 grumpy babies who will be moany the next day.

In general I dont care about going out for drinks at night as thats something I can do at home but sitting chilling and playing in the pool/ beach isnt so I massively prefer that part of a beach holiday.

It's the same in lots of other countries too though, and kids don't go to bed at 6pm there

Ours used to have a nap in the afternoon when they were little then they’d stay up later. We’d give snacks so they could have a later tea too and if needed they’d sleep in the buggy. We were probably back in the room around 10:30pm or so. They coped fine.

We had friends over to stay, one couple with their kids. The kids dominated the entire day (of course they did, they were 1 and 3), and at the end of it, we were all making polite noises about bedtime. The parents cheerily informed us that routine didn't matter, whilst we wished they'd take the hint and fuck off so we could let loose a bit.

Which we eventually did at 9pm!

I'm pro "do whatever the fuck pleases you", though I'm intrigued as to how some people could get their kids to bed at 7 if there's a time difference? Like I say, we just kept to UK time on holiday, so "keeping to routine" meant a 9.30/10.30 bedtime anyway.

Home - strict bed time.
Holiday - late as we like, usually not before midnight.
Kids adjust fine.
Taken our 3 every year since they were a few months, bar COVID.

Not really a surprise though is it?! That different people with different situations, different preferences, and different age kids want different things!

We went away with our nearly 4 year old a few months ago and this was the reason we didnt pick a hotel and instead chose a lodge so we'd have space to relax like at home. And we tried giving her a later bedtime some nights and it wasnt worth it. She got so stroppy and was harder to get to sleep. When she was younger and still nad naps, bedtime was more flexible.

We never did hotel holidays when ours were little, always booked a villa. Would go out for an evening meal around 8ish, they either ate or didn’t, their choice, and then could get back and put them to bed and we could stay up and have an evening still.
The idea of hotel evening entertainment holds no appeal for me.
We were pretty relaxed with bedtimes even at home, I mean we had a routine but it wasn’t set in stone because we didn’t want to be ruled by rigidity and the same went for holidays.
Nowaways Dh is in bed on holiday before everyone else 😂

We’ve not long come back with our 2 year old. Normally she’s in bed for 7. Not on holiday though. We went out for nice meals On an evening and watched the evening entertainment. She loved it. Some nights she looked abit tired so we went up about half 9, some nights she was still running up the ramp at half 10 giddy and some nights she went to sleep in her buggy. Back home now and went straight back to her 7pM routine. We all had such a lovely time.

Well, yes, probably - but surely that isn't surprising? When we had, say, a toddler and a baby we didn't go out in the evening on holiday so we booked places with the right set-up that we could stay in and enjoy some couple time after their bed time. We also went away with friends and did a similar thing- shared house so all the adults could sit and chat and have a drink after the little ones bedtime. Neither of mine would have fallen asleep in a buggy in the evening. Now they're 8 and 5 so we would absolutely keep them up later on holiday, they're much more able to sleep in and adjust after a late night. I took them away just me for a night and we all went to bed at about 9.30 because, as you say, it's not so appealing to have time after they're asleep if you're the only adult so I'd make different choices in that situation.

we went on an extended holiday to Australia and yes evenings were tricky. 20 months and a three year old. They were definitely tired by evening time and they were too old to sleep in a buggy. We tried keeping them up a little later than normal as they eat pretty early in Australia but it didn’t really work. We’d just have a early dinner and then yes we’d be in the hotel. Frankly we were pretty active and we were bushed too, but of course if no kids would have gone out more in the evenings. So it wasn’t about wanting to adhere strictly to a schedule but that’s the schedule the kids needed!

DD never had a problem and would either keep going or snooze in the buggy.

DS absolutely cannot cope and goes into overtired mania. No chance of napping in buggy either. Nothing enjoyable whatsoever when he’s up past his bedtime!!