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??

yes agree with holidays with children are different. We had some great holidays before ds was born, caribian, australia, definitely not the sorts of places that would suit young children. this year we are going to a thompson super family resort which is absolutely the sort of holiday I would have shuddered at pre ds. But he will love it, and because he will have such a great time, we will have a great time. And one day he will be older and will leave home and we can do the adult friendly holidays again.

and dd1 would no way on earth go in a kids club (very clingy)

dd2 would run in

so if and when we go on holiday, we would have to take it in turns to sunbathe/read etc as we would not have any child free time in the day either, never mind at night

kids clubs

acutally my kids would priobably love them

but dh and I like to make them suffer by being dragged round endless churches and stately homes then being made to eat enormously long lunches

wannabe when we looked at Superfamily and their ilk we struggled to find "family" rooms and would have had to book a separate room for our kids then 7 and 4. So we found an aparthotel and booked direct a 1 bed apartment style room instead.

my 2 would lvoe kids clubs too (have never used them)

dd1 wouldnt be seen for dust and dd2 (2and a half) is dd1 shadow and seems to be glued toher side so she would go if dd1 did

oh right Fio

pmsl

I completely agree with Wanna

We did the holidays we wanted to do before ttc - and accepted that once we had a baby, things would be different.

I personally don't understand why parents have children and then want things to be as they were before - surely by having children, you accept that your life is completely different and subsequently accept and make the necessary sacrifices - including not being able to go on holiday, sunbathe all day and then go out and eat and drink till all hours (my ideal holiday )

That will all come again when DS is grown-up.

janitor - have bookmarked your link htanks

I'm not angry, infact I find this all very very funny. I have watched many a spat on here before with amusement.
But we can't afford to cancel, we are concerned and it is per the original post a place where - where children eat early and then go to bed and parents eat later all together. We are also camping later this year ? perhaps this is more de-rigur?
We are all different. And the snidey comments - rah-di-rah aren't nice, especially under the circumstances.

well go then

and decide what to do when you get there

I couldn't leave my 2 at night because one of them is a frequent waker and I know the older one would panic if she couldn't find us.

One of the best things I remember about holidays abroad as a child was staying up late - I think that places like Portugal and Spain are much more child-friendly generally - children have their siesta and stay up later and eat with their families.

Haven't read the whole thread.

We went to Villa Pia when boys were 3 and 1, we left them in their room to eat food. Lots of parents had baby monitors though we did not, we checked on kids sporadically especially after the first couple of nights. Our room was locked and on the first floor, we could see the windows from where we ate.

As I recall most of the rooms were on the first floor, the place that you eat is in a seperate barn/building type thing though with good views of the main courtyard, though not the back of the house. The kitchen is in the main house with obviously chefs and staff coming and going.

It is of course your decision and I may have made a different decision if i was going there on holiday after these terrible events.

If it is any consolation it is very relaxed and it would not be a problem if the kids ate with you or even if they went to sleep in the corner. The owners are very nice and I am sure if you rang them or emailed them they would be happy to discuss this with you. I can't imagine that you are the only parents who will be panicking.

lizs we're going to this one
it's a 1 bed apartment so it's not ideal (had two bed last year but fully booked this year) but that's only for sleeping really as the rest of the time we'll be by the pool etc.

Fio my dh works with a guy who books his holidays according to where will take his children for the greatest period of time. last year he was trying to negotiate whether his baby (5 months) could stay in the cresche from 9-5 and again from 6-8 in the evening. his attitude is "we don't dook holidays for the children".

Wannabe - he sounds charming

i wonder if his wife agrees

Wanna - that is exactly the attitude that annoys me - why have children if you don't want to spend time with them eh? Particularly as presumably the parent (s) work and therefore it is a chance to spend quality time with them for 2 weeks - not just put them in a kids club and never see them.

exactly fio. his wife has just accepted a job in new york so she's away from monday-friday and he spends two out of 4 weeks in Japan. so the children are largely being brought up by a nanny.

wannabe he sounds grim . Poor kids