Anyone else with young kids just totally gone off holidays?

[pinkthing]

DH and I both have very little desire to go on holiday with our 5 and 2 year old. Since we had DC1 we’ve been abroad twice and struggled quite a bit both times. It’s just babysitting with less of the home comforts to me. And I struggle with the feeling of “this used to be fun, now it’s just hard work”.
I am actually quite a positive person, so I hate to feel this way, but I can’t justify spending a load of money to go away and not particularly enjoy it.
I see friends going away a lot, and it makes me wonder if I’m the odd one out here!
Anyone else like this?

It’s not for me. As much as I’d like to go away somewhere warm the reality will be very hard work and it’s just not worth the money. We’re sticking with Uk holidays for now but even they can be hard work! Mine are 4&8 and I’m hoping it will be feel easier in a few years time

Yanbu

It's just such hard work, expensive and not relaxing

Mine are 10 and nearly 7 we did abroad for the first time this year and it was awesome. Definitely wouldn’t have done it before these ages as it wouldn’t have been awesome 🤣

When mine were small, we did only staying in cottages near a lake or beach. Usually went with other friends in similar circumstances, so kids entertained themselves quite easily, evening meals were taken in turn. That way parents could have a relaxing fun evening after the littles were tucked in.

Holidaying abroad is sometimes over-rated.

Yeah I feel like this, our other children are 11 and 12 and I think we holidayed abroad with them from about age 6.
we now have twins who are 2 and we’ve been away 5 times, I won’t go again now for another few years as the last couple of times have been really stressful and not what I want from a holiday!
im also very positive and don’t mind playing with the kids all day but two toddlers in the sun is not the one

Yeh it is hard. I always say it's the same shit in a different location. My little boy is 4 and we tend to go away with my sister as the kids are 6 & 10 and all 3 of them adore each other and play together. Having 4 of us adults to split the load feels easier and we definitely get some relaxing time because there's always someone to keep an eye on them.

Yes totally agree, it’s not much fun at that age, we did our first holiday with the kids were just turned 3 and 7, it was lovely seeing the 7 year old enjoy new experiences for the first time but 3 year old was a nightmare. The following year was much better and then went abroad when they were nearly 5 and 9 which was fab

I love going on holiday but that’s because we do have a ‘fancier’ all-inclusive, so we don’t have to think about food at all. My daughter (5) loves the pool so is happy to splash about, or she will chill out on the sun lounger for a bit with some entertainment (or ice cream!) They also run a free kids club which she loves going to, which gives us a short break as well.

If we were self-catering somewhere I definitely know it wouldn’t be as fun, as the food stress would fall on me.

Lots of people do feel like you but it's not my experience.

We don't get to do as much sightseeing as we used to but I'd say 70% of it. More time spent around the pool than I'd ideally go for but it's a trade-off for being somewhere lovely. Finding dinner out is a bit hit and miss but otherwise the being somewhere new with all there is to do and see makes up for any small child tetchiness overall.

I agree, when we had our first one we tried holidaying like we did pre kids. Big mistake as we came back exhausted! Now we only do all inclusive with baby sitting services if we want a holiday.

Nope.

5yo and almost 2yo and we've holidayed abroad 3 times a year since DC1 born. We are very lucky that in laws have a holiday apartment in Tenerife and we also go all inclusive elsewhere once a year.

I can't relate to people having awful hols with little ones tbh

It can definitely be stressful with flight delays, interrupted sleep schedules, any injuries / illness but the fun times far outweigh that.

We're just back from Cape Verde and the sheer joy they get from simple pleasures like ice cream, the beach, the kids disco... I love it.

I adored traveling pre kids and you do have to accept it is a different holiday experience. More collecting shells and rushed chips for lunch than laying on loungers and lounging in restaurants!

I never had any problems but our families live abroad so going away without all the usual comfort items is part of life for us and DD's first trip was when she was 3 months. These trips were on top of an annual holiday so we got plenty of experience.

I personally found s/c easier than a hotel but then DH and I did s/c a lot before DD and prefer it, so again, nothing unusual for us and I didn't see it as a downgrade.

It also all depends how you spend time at home, we do a lot of day trips, museums, eating out so DD was used to it. Friends who mainly did parks, soft play and walks did struggle a lot more as their kids weren't into sightseeing or restaurants.

Love holidays with the kids - literally why I work the hours I do to make sure we go away most school holidays.

Much prefer it to being at home all the time in school holidays - washing pile looking at me, list of incomplete house jobs, £100 zoo trips 😂 etc

I love the change of pace, the adventure, the pools, the excitement and late night uno games 😊 my two have always been good at playing together though

We’ve kept holidaying as it’s still nice to have a change of scenery

Mauritius with 18 month old - price of a nanny was amazing! So we had evenings at the restaurant while baby at hotel room. Also managed the spa while baby with nanny

skiing with 3 yo and 6 month old (had in laws to help)

eurocamp with 4 yo and 1 yo

lanzarote with 4 yo and 2 yo and pregnant - good because all inclusive no cooking or washing up! Plus a kids club with took both the kids for an hour or so

eurocamp with 4 yo 2 yo and newborn - good because loads of activities plus our own place for toddler and baby to nap easily in separate rooms.

center parcs with 5 yo 2 yo and 6 month old

would recommend all!!

We've taken all 3 dc on abroad holidays from them being babies, some years we have wondered why we bothered and other years have been good, it's hit and miss. Trouble is I don't think there's a sweet spot so waiting might not be the best idea either. Now mine are a bit older, the oldest isn't interested in the same things a the youngest so that also makes it difficult! Holidays with kids however aren't going to be the same as without no matter how you look at it.

We took ours abroad as babies and then from around 3 it was a more varied holiday. So caravan in France. Eating out and trying new food and enjoying play areas, beaches, sea and pools.

From around 6 we started going to castles, museums and dc enjoyed cruise ships so we went much further. Best one was in Alaska. Dc liked wildlife holidays too and they enjoyed Kenya. We also hired a yacht in the BVIs and they really enjoyed that at age 8 and 6. New York at a similar age too. We believe travel is important and not just hot places. They learnt a lot.

Go again when the youngest is 4 ish.
We went on a few holidays with our youngest when she was 1 and it just wasn’t fun.

We’ve been on a couple of all-inclusive once the kids turned 4&6 and it was AMAZING. I came home feeling genuinely relaxed which I didn’t think was even possible with kids. It was amazing.

Just give it a couple of years

We haven’t even attempted a holiday abroad yet and our eldest is five in a couple of months!

We have done Center Parcs many times and rented a few air bnb cottages in the Lake District, wales and Devon. It’s been lovely but definitely a different sort of vibe to pre kids.

Yes! We took our two year old in July abroad, cost us over £2000 and was such hard work! Not again for a few years for us!