Why do I never learn?!! (holidays with kids)

[Februaryschild2023]

Is there some sort of pathology that makes a person never learn from their mistakes re taking kids on holiday? Is it like childbirth, where you sort of forgot the trauma and think it's a great idea to do it again?

Anyone else on holiday please commiserate with me if you're having a similarly trying time (I know we're lucky to get away at all but I just wish I'd learn!) We're in a nice sunny country. Both parents have some sort of ear and throat bug picked up on the plane. All in the same room as DC4 and our 6 month old who will only cosleep and wakes 2 hourly through the night. No one's slept much. 4yo is manic with tiredness and ice-cream and says it's too hot so won't leave hotel room. All counting down days til home!

I only have myself to blame. I used to ADORE holidays and travel. Why do I keep trying to make it work with young kids?! Is anyone else similarly stupid? Or could anyone with older kids tell me when a holiday becomes less like 10x the work of home?

Idiot me went camping/festival with toddler and older child. I knew it would be ridiculous with a toddler - made the same mistake when older child was toddler age. Somehow thought I'd be wrong/only remembered the bad bits. Nope - just as terrible this time around 😂

Ha I posted something similar last week. Every year I say I’m never doing it again. We had one year when we had a decent time ( apart from one episode of food poisoning) which lulled me into a false sense of security. Some people are easy going with easy going kids who aren’t prone to accidents or illness. These are the people that can go on holiday imo. The rest of us are in for expensive, anxiety-inducing and very possibly disastrous time

God, this thread is making me dread my holiday soon. After a lovely time last year with a 15 month old we’re returning with said 15 month old who will be 2 and a nearly 5 month old - who sleeps but has one night feed and from 3/4am makes all the classic farmyard noises so I can’t sleep past then but hopefully few more weeks and that’ll ease! (Fingers crossed)

Surely a nice holiday is possible with young children, I’ve had several with my eldest but there’s always been two adults to one child 😂

Just been on my first overseas holiday with my two - it was fab! They are 12 & 8 & we went to Canaries to avoid intense heat of the Med at this time of year.
I had to wait til they were strong enougb swimmers for my own comfort & peace of mind - kudos to single parents who are brave enough to do it alone with younger kids.
Witching hour was very much in evidence around the hotel with the toddler contingent
We've done UK holidays & a couple of city breaks up to now.
Embrace the siesta, stay up late, get up late & try to fond your own pattern. No sleep is painful for everyone.

We went to Cyprus all inclusive hotel with a kids club with DS 3 and DS7. Was great. They were entertained regularly by the kids club, even if it was just colouring in the playground in the shade, they lived in the pool, older one enjoyed water polo with the entertainment people. Food round the clock, evening kids entertainment which is shit but keeps them occupied. I loved it. We did share a room but it was fine as the kids were knackered, but different to a 6month old though. We are away in a few weeks abroad very similar holiday but no kids club.

the suggestions for driving to France and camping, I could think of nothing worse. We do lots of UK travelling already

I used to stick to hotels with kids clubs when mine were little so my husband and I got at least a couple of hours peace a day while the kids were there. Also, chose big hotels that had kids pools and activities to keep them entertained. And air conditioning.

Holidays with babies in tow are never relaxing so we just stayed in England at that time with low expectations.

It is hard going with little ones especially if you’re sharing a room as you don’t get any respite. They key for us has been getting the kids swimming well. They are happy to spend hours in pool and holidays became enjoyable from the youngest being 3 and every year more so since then. The airport was still challenging with our 4 yo this year as no buggy and long queues but the holiday itself worked well.

We love travel and holidays but when ours were tiny we stayed in England or wales. It was just too hard. We would go in June and got some great weather. One year when they were a baby and a toddler we spent our whole holiday budget on two nights a posh hotel 40 mins drive away with pool spa etc whilst my parents had the babies.

Once youngest about 4 we started going on overseas holidays again. Primary years are the best.

Haha yes, I dread to think how much we could have saved if we'd have just stayed home and recreated a typical holiday instead (stayed up all night, given the children bags of sugar to mainline, all slept in the utility room etc etc)

I learnt the hard way for a couple of years with this - squashing into small accommodation so got no sleep! So now I have a 1 and 5 year old i insist on booking a three bed place, self catering even if it means spending more money - sleep is so important as is being able to spread out a bit so not on top of eachother. I think lowering expectations is important - it’s not going to be a ‘holiday’ in the pre kids sense, but it’s nice to have a change of scene, with nice moments occasionally. Also helps doing stuff that I enjoy as well, for example, I don’t like beaches (hate sand) but do like visiting new places and history etc - so we visit national trust places, museums as well as beaches…the kids actually love museums as often lots to do for them there as well. Next year as well have a bit more disposable income due to nursery fees ending we are going to go for somewhere abroad with a pool. Lots of people swear by all inclusive but it’s not for us, we like exploring new places so it just seems a waste of a plane ticket staying in the resort all the time.

Tip: ALWAYS get a one bed apartment within your chosen hotel

ALWAYS go to a hotel with a kids club or at the v least one that is v family friendly

Always take turns with your husband in watching the kids during the day - he does an hour - you get an hour off - then you do an hour - he gets time off

Great to hear you had a terrible journey. Sounds very well deserved

We didn't go abroad due to finances but went self catering in England. Always had separate rooms and usually dh and i separated if the kids didn't sleep or he got us early cos I'd be up in the night with youngest.

Going abroad with toaty kids is very brave

On the contrary, I hope they had a lovely holiday so that they have the confidence to do it again, and next time hopefully have more understanding co-passengers.

That is a very horrible paragraph you have wrote. How dare that family upset your journey 😂 What do you think the parents thought? I bet they were trying their best to help their child.

Should children with Sen not travel? There is always a risk if something triggers them ….. (I bet this was the first time in a meltdown mode on a plane)

Maybe if your next child will be a sen child you might think differently …..

Thats what the world is about now including everyone and being kind to people 👍

You're a delightful human aren't you.

Do you also think that people requiring mobility assistance shouldn't be allowed to travel because it slows everyone else down?

This is SO TRUE 😂

We are not the east going family

For anyone considering euro camp, I used to work for them years ago and the company also own key camp. It’s a bit cheaper, but basically the same. They often operate on the same sites.

kids on site always seemed like they were having a great time and the parents never looked frazzled either.

At that age we stuck to holidays in the UK and Ireland, and always did self catering, so we had space to spend the evening when the kids were in bed. Ours are now 6 and 7 and I'm hoping for our first foreign holiday with them within the next year as I'm really missing foreign holidays. But we'll probably do self catering again, maybe just a week, and looking at going at Easter/half term when it might not be so hot.

Tweens / teens argued ALOT on our beautiful holiday this year.

Bastards.

My DC are grown up now but I’ve only had one iffy holiday in an apartment in Portugal that had marble floors, in fact marble everything and my middle DC had just learnt to stand up and crawl. I was a nervous mess.
Other than this holiday I had good ones, I nearly always booked two interconnecting rooms and that worked well. We did a lot of Mark Warner holidays using the childcare and having couple’s dinners out was great. We also enjoyed Centre Parcs plus went on a Haven super kid’s focused holiday once a year too. I found doing a mixture of things for the DC and for my DH and myself worked well.

Could I recommend this lovely development just off the pine walk in Puerto pollensa, great pools and our very spacious 3 bed apartment with comfy beds patio and lovely large lounge was totally mint!! It's not peanuts but not mental either- usually around 1100 to 2200 depending on season for a week for the accommodation

The development is called Bellresguard- and is close to the Illa D'or -- thank me later!! .

booking.pollentiarentals.com/rentals/apartment-puerto-pollensa-circe-1c-366030.html

Yes it is shit. Write it down so you don't forget.
Theme parks are also shit with babies. Music festivals are too, all of it is too overstimulating.
Stop all foreign holidays til your youngest is five. And even then, leave them with grandparents if you can for an adult only holiday!

When our son was young, we did self catering in the UK- Devon/Cornwall/Lake District. Still love the lakes for an Oct/Feb week.

He's 9 now and we went in a hotel in Austria, all one room. It was brilliant- we honestly had an amazing time and have booked to go again next year.

So, it definitely gets easier but, I think once they are a bit older. For example, my son sleeps all night, will eat pretty much anything so loved the food, can cope with staying up later and enjoys exploring with us. Once they get to this stage, it's great but the baby/toddler years are grim.