DS crying and asking to go home on holiday

[TGWTDT]

DS is 5 and we’re on our first holiday abroad. We’ve only been here two days and both evenings he’s broken down crying saying he misses home and wants to leave. .

Both days have been only centered around him. We’ve done water parks, swimming and have had no limits on ice cream and sweet treats etc. He made a little friend today and spent 6 hours in the kids pool and splash pad with him.

Then at dinner he got upset again and said he misses home and wants to leave now.

Is this normal? Is he just overwhelmed and tired?

We’ve held off having a holiday abroad until he was older because we were terrified of him hating the plane (when actually we needn’t of worried because he loved flying and was so well behaved) so always had nice UK holidays and he never reacted like this on those breaks.

it’s silly but it’s making me a bit sad that he just keeps crying and wants to go home. We’re going to Disneyland at Christmas and I don’t want this to happen again then!

I’d be crying for my own bed after 6 hours in the pool, and I’m 51!

It's just a lot. He's had a lovely day, but he's shattered and overwhelmed.

He's tired.

If he mentions it again, say, oh we're going home soon, darling.

And change the subject.

What are you gonna do, fly home early because of a comment from your five year old??

Overwhelmed I expect. We found it best to enforce some quiet time during the day to recharge. Just an hour in the room to cool down and chill out.

Six hours!

Class in home sickness, he’s tired after busy days and getting teary and missing his bed, he will be fine! Has he got a teddy or comforter with him from
home?

We had siesta time after lunch every day. Story and a nap. I think that prevented the meltdown in the evening.

Stop the sugary treats too.

Get him to bed early every night, he’s obviously shattered.

Ive never understood this not taking kids abroad until x age. Everything is new now but he will get used to it, he’s probably just really tired. Build breaks into the day too

He sounds very tired and overwhelmed. It’s been an exciting few days out of routine so he’s probably a bit homesick. Maybe have a slower day tomorrow and not too many late nights (if you are). But it’s quite normal for holidays to be quite emotional!!

Tired and overwhelmed I would think. Is there a pet he is missing at home? Six hours in the pool is looooong. And I think limiting sweet treats might be sensible as he's probably sailing along on a sugar high and is then having a deep crash.

Completely normal, as you say overwhelmed and tired. I just pacified mine with ‘oh if you still want to, we’ll leave early and go home tomorrow’ - by the end of the week they wanted to stay on holiday 😂🙄

Completely normal. Overwhelmed and tired is spot on.

Has he just started school this year? He will be exhausted after a long half term in reception/ Year 1. Just try and distract and take it easy. If it makes you feel better, when you get back, he'll no doubt be crying to be back on holiday!

He's shattered and that's making him emotional. Build in a quiet hour or two in the afternoon chilling in the room. Cut back on the sugary stuff as.that will.be giving lots of highs then crashes, and make sure he's eating enough overall. Try to recreate his bedtime routine as much as you can or build a special holiday one so he has familiarity when he's tired.

You need an enforced break during the day - I usually did it at 3/4ish until dinner time at 6ish. They need a chance to calm down, decompress and then reset for evening.

If you think about it, after 6 solid hours of exercise and excitement you'd be shattered too. I get overly emotional when tired and so do kids. Build in a break and I think he'll be fine.

And yes, if he's just started reception he'll be exhausted from his first half term,, even if he was in fullfime childcare before.

Thanks all. Appreciate it.

We’ll take some breaks in the room tomorrow and try and get a better evening routine and earlier bedtime.

Maybe not 6 hours at the pool - but certainly all afternoon. He loved it and didn’t want to leave.

We probably should have taken him abroad sooner but honestly, he’s the type of kid to either love flying or hate it!

He’s quite vocal when unhappy and we worried about him hating it and being trapped on a plane, so put it off until he was older.

I agree on over stimulated and crash from the sugar. Hope you have a better end to tomorrow!

No, he started last year so has just gone into Year 1. It’s a bit of a leap from Reception and has been a long term for him, so perhaps that’s part of it too.

DS2's first holiday abroad (he would have been 4 I think) - he spent the whole time asking when it would be time to go home. How many more days? How many nights? It was constant! He just wanted to go home!
He's 13 now and still a home-body. He has very fond memories of that holiday (unlike me 🤣)

Yes I think it can be normal. One of my children loves the adventure of being away. The other one does really miss home and can be a bit unsettled. I then also find that the homesick one struggles when she’s back home. We have a lot of tears with ‘I miss holiday’ so I can’t really win. I think some kids just find transitions a bit disorienting.

We're also on our first abroad holiday and my 5 year old is exactly the same! He's not crying but has asked several times when we're going home. I think at this age they still struggle a bit with the concept of time and being out of routine. My 8 year old is loving it, so hopefully it's a phase!

When my son was 4-5 he sometimes took a little nap on abroad holidays as the sun can be draining if you are somewhere hot. Sometimes we all took a afternoon nap , or just a little break out of the sun.

Even if he won't have a nap, try and allow him some more downtime and a shorter stint in the pool, 6 hours in the pool is a lot for that age, I am not surprised he is tired.

If he was miserable in the day I'd be more concerned but once he sees the pool tomorrow he will be full of beans again.