How many holidays is average/normal?

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I am just curious how many holidays people take on average when they have school age children, and when do you take them?
DD is 4 and started school in Sep so I guess we will need to stick to school holidays from now on 😏

I don’t take DS away in school holidays. I fail to see the argument of taking children out of school for a week or 2. Also I’m baffled that people pay those extortionate prices each to their own though.

Ive had 5 holidays this year but obviously due to not working as much. Usually only have one a year sadly

I don't think there is a 'normal'. Some people have loads of holidays, some people have none. Some people spend all their disposable income on holidays, some spend it on their house, some spend it on eating out, some save it.

Take as many holidays as you want to and can afford. But there's no point comparing it to what other people do.

Depends on income and social circle doesn't it?

And on time off from your job. If you have 4 weeks ofd a year and need to save some for sports day/class assembly/ random inset days then you wont be going away for more than a week.

A week or 10 days aborad and a weekend perhaps visiting somewhere in the UK seems normal in my world.

We don't really go abroad so often have a week in a cottage and a weeks camping.

If we had money/time/opportunuty Id loce to go more.

Alsonwhen kids are at school and young its so good for them to just play in then holidays, meet up with friends, keep up their sport, and shut doen3. We did have one summer where we went away 3 times (camping/stayed with a friend for a week/long weekend) and we realised it was too much for the kids who wanted time at home!
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There will be so many variables. My dad goes skiing everyyead and doesnt class it as a holiday, so will go on holiday as well ... but didn't do this when we were growing up.

It depends on income, annual leave and situation. When we got our last mortgage the mortgage adviser went through expenditure and despite us having a much higher income than average we spent far less than average on holidays. The kids were small and we spent our holiday time on visiting family (plus covering the kids being poorly) so holiday expenses were just petrol costs. Now they are all at school we do have family holidays away. Last year, as well as DH taking the kids to see MIL for a week and me taking the DC to see DM for a week (both live in tourist areas) we had a week's city break abroad and a week's holiday in the UK plus went to a festival.

We do everything in the school holidays, we have generous annual leave but not enough to use up weeks outside the school holidays. I don't prioritise sports days etc either, it seems daft to use up half a days annual leave on an hour spent watching one child (kids school is large and they have a sports day, nativity and a parent's assembly for each year). And don't forget teacher training days that need to come out of your annual leave as well.

As PP said, no such this an normal.

We usually have 1 abroad holiday and 2-3 UK holidays each year.

Abroad is summer break / October half term.

UK breaks are Easter and Christmas and either summer or October depending on when the abroad holiday is.

thing as

I work pt, so this means we can easily have 4 day breaks as well as having 1 or 2 week long holidays using annual leave.

We usually have a holiday or a number of breaks in spring. A summer holiday and/or breaks plus camping. Then we have a holiday in autumn.

Equally, there have been some years where we've had more days away and overnights than holidays. Depending on what we want to do...

We always used to go away (UK) at a October half term, and a week in Cornwall at Easter - and then something in the summer, up to ten days in UK or abroad. But caring responsibilities for elderly relatives mean we haven't done any proper family holidays for the last two or three years, only the odd weekend away. Haven't been anywhere at all in 2020. Holidays feel a dim and distant memory now.

As children turn into teens it becomes harder to find weekends in term time where no one has social or sporting commitments, or homework or looming tests to revise for. Although in theory the idea of weekends away is lovely, in practice it doesn't often work out of school holidays.

We usually have 2 weeks abroad, however we haven't had a weekend break for about 10 years. A lot of organising for 2 nights away, not sure it's my thing anymore.
Like many we didn't go away this year.

There's not going to be a normal. It depends on disposable income and priorities plus holiday entitlement from work.

We take our primary aged dc abroad approx 5 times a year and holiday in the U.K. 1-2 per year in normal times.

This year we have been abroad twice and holidayed twice in the U.K.

We go away in February half term long haul (sometimes take dc out of school for a few days) Easter short haul, May half term Europe, summer we have a week or 10 days abroad and a week in the U.K., October we go somewhere hot. Christmas we like to do a European Christmas market. We have a weekend away without the dc and each with friends too. That sounds like and is a lot but it's our main priority. Other people we know prioritise bigger houses or flashy cars.

There's a few other kids in dc class who do pretty much the same, then some who have a few really big holidays like Florida every year, some who have one holiday a year, some who prefer to stay in the U.K. and some who never go away at all.

Wow that all sounds amazing midinthenight!

We tend to (non Covid times) go away 3-4 times a year.

1 big holiday in summer hols abroad for 10-14 days usually Spain, Italy or France.
1 week away in the UK in a half term
1 weekend away in the UK either in a holiday park or Center Parcs or similar

On top of that we usually go to visit various family members or friends for a couple of nights in the other school holidays / half terms.

Thanks to COVID we didn’t do much on the holiday front this year. We were lucky to have 1 week by the seaside in the UK in the summer and a couple of nights away to celebrate DH big birthday in a UK hotel in October half term

For us, just one a year, usually abroad. Sometimes a short UK break too but not often. DC would goon school trips too. We spent a lot of money on days out until lockdown, which, if I added them all up, could have paid for a second holiday. But we like having lots of small things to look forward to - days in London to see a show or a day at a music festival etc.

@Hunnihun2

I don’t take DS away in school holidays. I fail to see the argument of taking children out of school for a week or 2. Also I’m baffled that people pay those extortionate prices each to their own though.

I kind of have no choice, being a teacher and all...

I go away at least Easter, summer and October half term. Usually 2 city breaks (not in the UK) and a sun holiday but that varies. I don't do holidays in the UK, just a couple of days here and there so often just do an overnight on a weekend.

When DD was at school we used to have a week abroad at spring bank and a week somewhere in the UK in the summer holidays. Then when she was in GCSE/A level years it used to be a week abroad at the end of the summer holidays. The one exception was an 11 day trip to Orlando in Juy after her GCSEs.

Generally we spend a lot on holidays- usually a big holiday abroad every other summer, and then on the years we aren't doing that - a ski week at Feb half term, plus a week in the UK with relatives and a week in October- Tenerife if we can afford it. Then I usually have at least one weekend away with friends and DH visits his pal in France.

We'd usually spend about £10k a year minimum. But I begrudge home improvement money and not fussed about what car I drive, and we're lucky enough to be able to afford it.

We were lucky to have one holiday a year when the children were growing up. Now I have as many as possible.

I like to take one european holiday, one long haul and at least 2 city breaks per year

We tend to go abroad at either Easter or May half term and/or October half term. We'll usually have a uk holiday in the summer and a couple of weekends away, maybe centre parcs or something.

I do sometimes think of "normal for mumsnet" on these threads! This level of disposable income would be ace regrets life choices!

@Superstardjs yeah that’s understandable with you being a teacher.

2 weeks by the coast in the summer and a few days camping in spring. Both in the UK.

I haven't had a holiday in over 10 years, except taking my DS to Center Parcs for his birthday which doesn't feel like a holiday as it's quite stressful being on edge for his next tantrum