Toddler not enjoying holiday

[ThatBusyRedWriter]

We are in Cala D’or Mallorca, 21 month old not tolerating the heat very well(obviously keeping him out of the sun and well hydrated etc etc), and he’s surprisingly not had any tantrums (which he does a lot at home) but just seems miserable, I feel really bad! He tells me constantly that he wants to go home, that he needs to get an aeroplane home, he needs to go home to see our dog /nana/ grandma etc.
totally didn’t expect him to feel so home sick, and also so bored! He doesn’t like the pool, doesn’t like the beach, says the sand is ‘dirty’, I’ve taken him in the sea/pool a couple of times but he hates that, not interested in playing with water toys etc by the side of pool or beach, we’ve brought a few toys/books which he plays with for a few minutes but gets bored and I feel awful when he just keeps asking to go home.
any ideas for something that might entertain him?!

I've not been to Mallorca for years but are there any boat trips? DS loved a glass bottomed boat trip at did in Greece when he was 3

Can you do a facetime call with the people he is missing. Maybe get them to ask him to bring them something home (a shell maybe) then you can entice him out on a little treasure hunt. That might help the homesickness and also get him to enjoy his surroundings.

You just have to wait it out, in my experience. FaceTime might make it a lot worse.

My 3 year old has always travelled really well but has been like this this holiday... constantly asking to go home, talking about the people he misses, our home, our car, his friends, his bedroom... He didn't like the beach, found the sand too hot, his appetite was rubbish and his attention span even worse.

We're now 3.5 weeks in and he's a LOT better. It's just been a big effort for him to settle this time!

Sometimes it takes a few days for people (me included) to settle in on holiday. No advice really on what to try..maybe a playground type place in a cooler part of the day? My son once famously told us "I don't have a happy life" when the toy selection at our holiday cottage wasn't to his liking. I think he must have been 3.

Can you do some days out that he’ll enjoy? If he doesn’t like the pool or beach then staying round the hotel will probably be boring for him.

Are there any play parks in the area? Is there a land train you can ride?

What does he enjoy at home?

Is it his first holiday abroad?

Could you buy a little paddling pool? Would he like that, just for him. When my boys were little they didn’t to use a busy pool. Find a play park, walk along the prom, show him on the calendar when you go home, how many sleeps that is, this really helped my two, rather than just saying we go home soon. Good luck OP, try not to worry about it, he won’t remember it, and might even say he wishes he was on holiday when he’s back, because that is toddlers for you!

Are you constantly asking him if he’s ok, what he wants to do and if he wants x,y,z? It can be overwhelming. Just decide what you want to do for the day and do it, stop over thinking. If you do give him a choice make it between A & B and go with what they choose, don’t ask if they’re sure just go with it.

We were there recently with our 2 year old and she loved it...but we did have a few days of "can we go home now"...
a few of her highlights: looking at the many boats in the marina, day trip to the Palma aquarium, painting daddy (bucket of sea water and a paint brush), water colouring books, lots of water melon to keep hydrated, write/colour a postcard to Granny/the dog, games/puzzles to do sitting on the shade

We went to Sa Coma recently and there was at least one soft play- might they enjoy that? The Drac Caves? The Soller train?

My 21 month would not be capable of saying any of that. He might not mean what he’s saying.

have you tried getting this like a watering can for him to play with at the pool? My oldest at that age would not go in the pool but could sit on the side of the pool for hours with a watering can and bucket.

are there any playgrounds nearby.

Holidays with under 3 year olds are absolutely not worth the hassle in my opinion. But that’s just me. Other parents seem to think it’s worth it! I don’t think it’s surprising that a lot of toddlers, who thrive on consistency and routine in a world tat appears to change constantly simply because they themselves change constantly, should find holidays confusing and upsetting. Can you do a calendar counting down days til they go home so they have something visual to look at?
Hope it improves, OP!

Agree Good. We love travel but when our two babies and toddlers we drove to Devon or the Gower. This was after a disastrous package with dd1 at 2. Holidays with primary age then 16 plus are the best. Babies / toddlers and early teens the worst holiday companions.

Can you do a day trip to a zoo or aquarium or something?

Ah bless you. We took DC1 on an AI/resort type holiday when he was a similar age and, although enjoyable, it was quite hard work and not at all relaxing! He also only wanted to go in the pool for a couple of minutes at a time and kept slipping over which was no fun. Thankfully he quite liked the beach and the sea though. I have to say the majority of the time we were in the resort was spent in the play area, which was pretty similar to the one in our local park!

We went on a couple of ferry trips which he liked and also went on a local train which again, he liked. Maybe check out what you can do away from the resort if possible.

does he understand that this a temporary change of living venue and that all these things he is missing are still at home and he will be going back there soon and will see them again. This is the age for developing understanding of object permanence and particularly if a child is a good speaker it is easy to overestimate what they understand of what is going on.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions,
we have been on a little train ride which he enjoyed somewhat, and I also managed to entice him to the beach/sea by the fact there were a few of those pedalo boats with slides on (he’s obsessed with slides) so he enjoyed watching those bobbing along, and bought some ice cream cone sand toys and told him we were going to make ice cream sandcastles,
he still tells me several times a day he wants to go home, and woke up in a panic at 1am last night calling our dogs name! But we’re flying home tomorrow,
we have been abroad twice before, but not that he can remember as he was 3 and 8 months old at those times, but a lot more recently we went away to Scotland for a few days in a hotel and he was absolutely fine!
maybe he will enjoy it more next summer if we decide to go again!

Does it have any fun kid activities at the hotel? Ours did the daily Character dress up, disco and games quite early, pool party's with fun songs and nursery rhymes. Arts and crafts stations. Is there anything like that?