Holidays with an only child

[fortunatepiggy1]

We have ds who is 5. Just had a lovely few days away for Easter hols the 3 of us on the south coast. Ds was happy as Larry on the beach rockpooling and playing with us and we also took him to a couple of parks/ a zoo where he made friends. He is v sociable which is good. Just got me thinking what happens as he gets older? We haven't really developed strong enough friendships with any of his school friends parents to holiday with them as he has only started school this year but this may come with time. Otherwise do you just book places with kids clubs? I want to try camping at some stage ( never been before but think I and ds will love it) and will look for somewhere with lots of kids he can easily make friends with ...

Watching with interest. Ds is 11. Beach holidays in Uk Of type you describe still best so far for us. As has got older does more surf/ bodyboarding (there are surf schools) and walks etc. He also likes being away with his cousins and camping.

Take one of his friends away with you.

DD is 8, normally its just the two of us when we go away and I get all school holidays off work. We live near lovely beaches and go all the time, she is red haired so I've never bothered with an overseas beach holiday.

We tend to do city breaks, several times to London to watch West end shows, museums other sightseeing things. This year we have a short trip to London planned and then a longer one in Scotland where we have tickets to watch her favorite sports during the European championships and will be staying in Edinburgh and Glasgow which we've never been to before so other sightseeing opportunitys there.

We have camped at music festivals before, Latitude is lovely if you have children.

Friends wise, shes used to it being just the two of us and if we've stopped off at a park for lunch or to play in fountains she normally finds someone to chat to. Holidays are only short and normally fairly packed with activities, she sees her friends when we come back home.

DS is 13 and we've holidayed mainly just the 3 of us. Go to a beach with a ball or body board and he usually ends up messing around with another child. We went to Majorca one year and he struck up in the pool with a German boy and most days they met around 4pm for an hour or so in the water. They couldn't hold a conversation due to the language barrier but had a great time playing water polo & jumping in. City breaks we're busy taking in the sights. The other thing is he quite likes a slower paced holiday. School time with homework, clubs, matches, friends etc can seem a whirlwind.

We have holidayed with cousins and family friends a couple of times.
We've not taken a friend along so far, never holidayed with another family from school and DS has never been to a kids club on holiday.

We have one DS age almost 8 and do a variety of holidays if we can. We go to a caravan every year with a group of friends and their children. Brilliant- the kids all love it. It helps that our friend's DS is our DS's best friend from school. We also go camping with the same group of friends. It's fab.
We also go and stay with family in LA every summer and my two nephews are there who are a similar age to DS. Again this works really well.
We've been to a nice hotel in the Canaries a few times with a great kids club and my DS makes tons of friends really easily.
We have been on lots of short city breaks to UK hotels just the three of us and plan a few activities for fun or go sightseeing.
I think in the next few years we'll think about taking a friend away with us but to be honest my DS had never asked and I think he enjoys it just the three of us anyway.

We've done eurocamp a couple of times (DS is 8) and although he hasn't been to any of the kids clubs (of which there are loads), he's made friends by the pool/playground etc. We're lucky to have family/friends with kids in holiday-type places as well so we've prioritised going to those places so he's got some readymade pals. I think we'd consider taking a friend/cousin on holiday with us when DS is older but for now these options seem to work well.
I know for a while I was always so keen to find him activities etc as I was very conscious he was "on his own" (not saying you are doing this btw) but I found it easier once I realised actually, he was quite happy doing things informally/being with us/cousins etc. Just keeping it fairly casual seems to work for us.

I’m an only, and never went away taking friends etc. My parents preferred being just our small family unit and not having to care for anyone else. We did some camping and I’d always find a friend for a play together. Sometimes city trips. I learned to read quietly, talk nicely to my parents, and let them enjoy their quiet time/radio 4/afternoon naps. And all in the days before mobile entertainment!
Onlies do tend to be fine in their own company, so kids clubs etc aren’t always required.
Have fun!

I am an only child, my son is an only, DH is an only... nothing changes. Toatally agree with Kalinka personal experience is onlies are less likely to be lonely and actually feel comfortable with and enjoy their own company actually can't think of anything worse than joining up with others for a holiday

Our only child is 5 too. We have done trips away in family resorts, camping, city breaks, villas and skiing. We’ve been away with friends with kids the same age, grandparents and just the 3 of us. He always has a good time no matter if it’s a big group holiday or just the 3 of us. I like going away with other people but it depends on the friends and some friends are definitely easier to be on holiday with than others! We get on well with some families from school but can’t imagine going away with someone I didn’t know very well.
If it’s just the 3 of us we usually try to go to places with mini discos, splash parks, kids club and lots of other kids to make friends with but we’ve just come back from a very quiet week away where it was literally just the 3 of us every day. He loved exploring the beach with us and going out on the boat. I think most kids just love being on holiday.

My ds is 11 - we like camping, and he always finds other kids to play with within minutes of arriving. We sometimes go with another family who have 3 children, but he's also quite happy when we go somewhere and it's just the three of us.

Our only is 9. He always finds a friend (or several) on holiday. As 'onlies' have said they are good at entertaining themselves and obviously we play with him and do day trips, waterparks etc too

We have an only and do family friendly cruise. DS always finds several people to chat to.

He also has a good friend that lives close by and we also go away with them.