Holidays with an only

[Winny2973]

I know it varies from family to family but what sort of things do you do on a UK break as a one child family? 8 year old DSD, DH and I are going away (hopefully) for a week soon & trying to figure out things we can do together. How much time do you spend doing purely child-orientated things?

Last time we went away that wasn't camping was years ago and we did things like soft play etc. but obviously I don't think that's going to be an option this time around.

@Winny2973..
Good question! Well we have one DS and have found it tiring now we're older but he doesn't seem to be missing out as we do as much as we can. Money has always been an issue and finding cheap activities is so difficult. We've done the bucket and spade on the beach thing, crazy golf, bus trips. Every time you go shopping they want stuff! We give in, after all we're on hols!
I think we spend 100% of the time doing child-oriented things. What else can you do with a child?! I'd never leave him in the apartment, etc (think Madeleine McCann and the baby listening service..look how that turned out) they don't offer these services any more anyway which is just as well.
So sorry to put a downer on it, i didn't mean it to sound bad, i think a holiday with kids is what you make it. The weather dictates alot. We've spent days stuck in the caravan playing games and watching tv, with the rain hammering down outside. But we had fun, it was memorable. DS loved waving to the diggers driving past the window so he had fun! Now he'd prob just sit and play games on my phone!
Have a great time

DS is used to it, but has always just got on with things. We always incorporate a decent amount of child activities, and really only get to do adult stuff when he is in bed. I try and take his cousin or a friend with us to take some of the pressure off us, and it really doesn't cost much more.

There is only DS and me, we have done some holidays with family (some kids his age) and some of his friends and their families.
When it has been just the 2 of us, we have both chosen where to go. When going abroad we've done places where we can mix sightseeing and relaxing (so one year we did a few places in Italy), another year Barcelona and so on.
We tend to do short breaks in the UK, DS loves adventure activities so we go places where we can do these (canyoning, rock climbing, white water rafting etc). Wales, Lake District, Scotland, Northumberland have all been great. We like walking and climbing mountains, but we like beaches and boat trips etc too... DS loves castles too (even now at 14) so anywhere with a castle works.

Sorry... Should have said I love those things too, so it's quite easy!

I was an only child. Family holidays were a mix of child friendly things (beach/museums/sightseeing etc) and being left to my own devices a bit (not alone)- I read voraciously as a result. I have many fond memories of holidays with my parents.

Castles, cycling, kayaking, interesting walks, beach, hire a boat, fossil hunting , museums, steam train trips....

With DSD when she was 8 we took her on holiday to a caravan park and did beach twice even in not so good weather, zoo, bowling and arcade (although might not be possible currently), a look round a town which was for us but with ice cream as an incentive for DSD. There was also a pool and a play park at the caravan park although I don’t know if pools are open now. There was evening entertainment which while very cheesy DSD loved and we got to have a drink and a chat while she was pretty much entertained. I would say generally our holidays are 80% children’s stuff and 20% adult stuff with some kind of incentive thrown in. We took her to a very nice seafood restaurant on the same trip which was more our thing but it worked for her as we took colouring and quiet things to keep her entertained.
My childhood holidays were often trudging round places that my parents wanted to go that I wasn’t very interested in but I did at least have my sister to play with so I’ve been quite keen to give DSD a different experience to that.

We have one DS and we do things like going on steam trains, visiting museums (which are usually very child friendly) tourist attractions, boat trips, all sorts of things. If it's the seaside, then crazy golf, stuff like that. We like mooching about churches or whatever - it's nice just to spend the time together. Cafe lunches are a big part of it

What we usually do at the start of the week is that we each name one or two things that we really want to do, and the others have to go along with them. It works well for us.

Very similar to what everyone else has said.
We tried to go abroad once a year - somewhere with a kids club. Ds loved it and we got a break.
Most holidays were spent with my parents. Walking dogs, bicycle trips. Day trips. Beach trips. The park.

Now he's a teenager it's summer tennis camp all holiday long. It was until covid19.we live abroad ATM so until this year I'd take him away on my own or with a girlfriend and her ds. This summer holiday bus going to be hard work.

Oh gosh @BooseysMom I definitely didn't mean leave her in the apartment. I meant for example growing up my parents always visited castles & museums. I absolutely hated it but my parents still did it as they said it was their holiday too. What I meant by non child related things was essentially just child friendly activities (like visiting castles) that said child isn't interested in.

Some great ideas here, thank you

Bring a friend or cousin if atall possible. Takes the pressure off you, and lots of fun for your child. I always did this and offered to pay etc if it was a holiday in the UK. If you can't though just try and do activity type holidays, and keep her busy.

I have an only DS. At the moment he is preschool age so holidays are based on activities for him such as beach, swimming, playgrounds etc. When he is older we intend to invite a friend along so that DS can do stuff with them. I expect holidays will still be mostly child activities but I would expect to be able to visit an occasional church/museum etc.