Holidays

[ytrewq123]

The thought of finding and booking a holiday fills me with dread. How do you keep your only child entertained when you go away? I don't know if I'm overthinking it but I feel like my son will be bored without having a sibling / friend to play with. Any tips on places to go would be welcomed too.

Not one parent family but husband physically very limited so I took ours away alone a lot. Never had any problems at all under about 7. Often invited a friend thereafter which usually worked out well. Children are far easier holiday companions than other adults!

Oh I think I misread. There are two of you plus child?

We have pretty action-packed holidays, and even our chill holidays are busy.
Our last one was in January, so our summer we camped near a river and was swimming all day then camp fire at night then went 4wding had picnics and lots of bush walks.
Other times when we camp in caravan parks, we explore towns go swimming, go to the zoos, koala rescues, reptile parks, and we always make sure we have something planned occasionally he can play his switch/watch a DVD or he reads a book or we play board games explore the town we are in see the historical parts of the towns go shopping for souvenirs send post cards to friends/family.
Plus, I'm one of the mean mums that make my son get bored, so he thinks of something he wants to do himself.

Thanks. I'm not with my son's dad anymore but have a new partner.

From age 9 onwards we paid to take DD’s closest cousin and latterly her best friend away with us most of the time. She was happy alone with us when she was younger but the older she got she just wanted someone her own age to hang about and play with. She’s 19 now and still the only holidays she enjoys alone with us are the action packed + short city breaks, anything else and she’s just bored and miserable a few days in having to be with us 24/7

Hi, my partner has a 7 year old so we have been away a few times 2 adults and 1 child. The kid loves swimming, digging in the sand and playing in the arcades. Our best holidays have been:

• small apartment on the seafront in Shanklin, Isle of Wight (brilliant amusements, ice cream parlour and sandy beach)
• caravan park also in IOW, on site pool, playground, small arcade and kid friendly bar/restaurant
• Small apartment near Clacton seafront - again, great for arcades and ice creams etc.

All of these trips were no more than 3/4 nights and we have great memories from all of them

It’s definitely quite exhausting so I suggest you keep the trips short and take it in turns with your partner to entertain the child while the other relaxes, and have some planned activities that are for everyone

When we had only one she always made friends with other kids at the pool/beach. Was v entertained. How old if your little one? You could maybe book a nice hotel with a kids club?

1. Go to a campsite - other kids on tap, DC learns to make new friedns and be sociable , confident and independent
2. Hook up with other singleton child families

We have done both over the years and now do teen version of the above combined - semi-organised sports and activities, kids grow up with friends who are like siblings and learn to share, squabble, understand each other, deal with rows. I genuinely think they will be lifelong friends. Parents get a break from the intensity.

How old is he? We did Eurocamp or similar for years with our only. She made friends in the pool and at the kids club.

We choose places like Euro camp where he can meet other kids and over a certain age go to play the organised football or other activities

We tend to holiday with family and DDs cousins quite a bit but we find going to holiday parks a good shout when it's just the 3 of us. Plenty of other kids around for her to play and make friends with and a lot of them have activities going on they can get involved in too.

It depends on what you like to do on a normal holiday. DH and I never really could lounge by a pool all day, but we happily spend a day at the beach or on a boat trip so we still do that now we've DS, but now with added waterparks.

I think when DS is older he might prefer to have someone come along but right now, he just likes hanging out with us.

We've just done a 5-night city break with a 12yo. We all googled things to do and picked the most interesting as a family.

Camping is also great - the first thing we unpack is his bike, and off he goes exploring the site, circling back with a stream of new friends and a pack of Uno cards!

How old is he?

I have an only, he’s 4 and so far not really found any issue. He either plays with other kids sometimes if a child also there, but happy with just parents attention for a week or so.

If we stay somewhere without other children he usually finds kids on days out, at park, in a pool.

We just did a city trip for 5 nights and no other children really. But we did activities daytime like fun museums, the zoo, beach, combined with sightseeing. He’s easily bribed with an ice cream. Booked hotel with pool so he could have a splash around most afternoons before dinner.