Now worried about holiday, as intending to leave Dc's in room while we eat...

[OutragedfromTunbridgeWells]

we're going to villa Pia (as recommende on MN) where children eat early and then go to bed and parents eat later all together.

This seemed a great idea to me before.

but now obviously with tragic and frightening abduction of Madeleine, it's playing on my mind and feel we cannot do this.

Are any others having such dilemmas? what should we think/do??

just go on holiday in a gite or villa and let the kids stay up with you until they fall asleep on the floor

as recommended by enid

That's why I won't do MW or many of the other so-called child-friendly places.

I really don't like the idea of eating separately when on holiday.

We get precious little time together as a family, I would hate for DD to be forced to eat with other children for the sake of DH & I eating alone later.

Funnily enough, most places seem to allow children over 12 into the adult dining room. At 12+, I expect DD will be expressing her opinion about preferring to occasionally eat with friends she has made rather than with her parents.

haven't read the rest of the thread - but either both eat with the kids, or take it in turns to eat with them if you are in a bigger group. Then one stays with the kids in the evening.

I personally would not want to leave mine alone anyway in case they wake up in a strange place and get frightened (having said that I have taken a quick walk away from our remote holiday cottage in Scotland - could see the cottage all the time but still felt uneasy).

i find all this very strange - whats wrong with a self catering apartment or villa where you can put them to bed then sit outside sipping wine LIKE YOU DO AT HOME?

Why is it with MN there are so many sanctamonious types ? "oh I wouldn't do this and I wouldn't do that?" We are all different people with different views. Regarding the comment about vommiting in sleep ? that could happen at home, do these people check their child every 15 mins at home? We are going MW in 3 weeks, we go every year and all of us enjoy it and get a chance to recharge our batteries. God help that poor family and yes we are thinking hard about the night times, but please please please let people be themselves, what works for one doesn't work for all. Without that acceptance you get conflict and I for one am sick of being told how to be a parent.

agree naily

Mine have always been utter gits the next day if we have ever done this and really hopeless at sleeping in buggies. So much so that I have decided I can't be bothered to take a buggy with us this time. If she is awake she can walk! We are going to a villa in Aigues-Mortes in southern France and it is supposed to be 5 mins walk to the old town with it's restaurants. So we will do the siesta and eat later plan. Then head back and DH and I will drink wine on the patio. If she is too tired to walk home she will have to go on DH's shoulders - she is only light.

I agree that the flexibility of s/c (or eating out in local restaurants with the kids in tow) is the way to go with small children.

We stayed in hotels when ds1 was a baby and safe in a cot, doing the baby listening or monitor thing. However once he became mobile I wouldn't do it for the reasons already stated by others - wandering, falling off balcony, climbing up chests of drawers - those kind of things.

How can you possibly use the words ?family friendly resort? and ?not allowed to eat with your children in their restaurants in the evening? in the same sentence? Any resort that bans children from any part of it at any point is, in my mind, not a family friendly resort at all and I would never even consider going there. To me holidays are about spending time as a family and that includes spending time and doing things with the children that you wouldn?t get the chance to do at other times of the year due to work commitments and general day to day life.

Personally we prefer to eat with our ds, and also go with the siesta option, and the threat of ?if you don?t have a sleep you can?t stay up late? is used and it works. Also if you?ore going to the continent then they?re an hour ahead, so you can kind of move things forward in that sense, eg if you normally eat at 6 at home you can eat at 7, or if they?re getting hungrier earlier because of swimming etc or you want to eat later then let them have a snack, fruit or even icecream to keep their tummies from rumbling until dinner time. if they normally go to bed at 7:30 you could get away with not putting them to bed until 8:30, and if they have a siesta you can add an hour or two on to that. Also if there?s children?s entertainment in your particular resort, the adrenalin of that does tend to keep them awake a bit later anyway, and although it?s not to everyone?s taste, it?s only a couple of years after all and there?s plenty of time for the adult holidays when the kids have left home surely?

We do self-catering cottage as well.

As MMJ pointed out, we just have different holidays now from when we had no children.

And it's not forever, just a few years, soon enough children are old enough to stay up later.

We did a long weekend away one time with my folks and the B&B we were booked into didn't work out, so we booked a 'suite' in a hotel instead. That way, one adult could stay in the living room area whilst the baby slept. And then we rotated out the designated adult.

My sister's family will holiday with another family, more adults to share babysitting duties and sometimes, the other family has teens who are old enough to babysit.

This may not work for every family or be their choice, fair enough, but this is how we've handled it for us.

I do wonder why a family friendly hotel chain doesn't encourage people eating together? Surely that is a family friendly behaviour? The creche etc is a great idea and a good option, especialy of rmaybe once in a holiday, but not everybody wants or can (I bet they wouldn't take my SN kids) use it. To me family friendly means somewhere where we can all be together should we want it, and where children are welcomed in all communal areas. I am a little surprised how wildly that seems to differ from the picture I am getting of MW here. We just got back from a weekend away and after settling the boys we sat outside (the tent) and drank wine / ate pringles. That was lovely, we could talk sometimes, and I read / Dh played with his DS and was totally relaxing. I don't see any hardship in that, tbh.

wannabe crossed posts LOL

can i ask why poeple feel/are told the children should not eat with them? or eat late?, not wanting to be contraversial and this is not meant to be linked with MAddie, just the resort and their 'policies'?
i went to the algarve some years a go now in Alvor and there were many children both in our group and with their own families eating out quite late, they fell asleep on mummy/daddy/in pushchair or if not parents went home(apartment) with food/bottle of wine.
i think these resorts are wrong for suggetsing the parents dont include their children

oops, should read last posts first

yes thats a good point about entertainment wanna - even if they are completely knackered, a disco or karaoke keeps 'em going

Forgive me, the original post was from someone who is going on the sort of holiday where they leave their children to have supper, many people do this. I would have thought that valid discussion comes from people who also do this with similar concerns not the people who would never do this and are very quick to say so. Outraged was asking for valid advice based on the type of holiday they are going on.
Comments such as WHAT??? sounds more like boot camp than holiday or I personally would not leave my child alone in a room because I would be concerned about fire or an intruder breaking in with the intention to steal which does happen a lot in holiday resorts.

If you don't want to go on that sort of holiday - don't but thats your call. But don't then offer advice based on a situation you have no experience of.
For those who have booked and paid for it, the justified concern as to what to do is a worthwile discussion.

sorry havent read whole thread

but

does MW REALLY ban kids from the restaurant after a certain time ?

yes, my dd was almost 3 when we went to palma nova last year in feb and although she go's to bed at 7-7.30 at home, she was up till 11pm some nights because of other children in our group, music, dancing etc..we had a wonderful time 'because' the children were with us.

oh janitor

we have been thinking about puerto pollensa

I left dd on her own in a UK hotel while we ate in the dining room, our room was 2nd floor and I was terrified of fire, mainly, but she was exhausted and needed to be put down to sleep; I checked on her every half hour, this was exhausting as dh was in another hotel with the groom (my sisters wedding), in hindsite I would do it again but would bring my own baby monitor, I just assumed the hotel would have one but it didnt
You just do whats right at the time.

This thread has really put me off the idea of a Mark Warner holiday, it doesn't sound very family friendly at all it sounds such a hassle just to organise your eating arrangements, not my idea of a relaxing holiday! Last year we went to a keycamps resort in Italy which was much more geared to families and a hell of a lot cheaper too! Some nights ds stayed up later and ate with us at restaurants and other nights he slept in his bedroom whilst we ate outside on our patio. I'm coming round to the idea that a lot of these very pricey resorts are not really up to that much.