Tips on handling holidays with a toddler

[bumbly]

feeling very low as back from a first ever holiday with hubby and nearly three year old toddler

has been very good recently and well behaved so thought we oculd move on to a mini break in germany but then in middle of hol he turned into a monster ansd contrary to everything and i mean everything ..

what tips do you have for handling a toddler hwo says no toe verything!

got me real down as i got angry a lot of the times and then it left a bad atmosphere for all!

Tough age.
What type of stuff happened?
You have to choose your days and activities carefully. They really aren't much good for anything except playing with toys and running around and climbing things at that age (unless they are overwhelmed and just want to cuddle up watching tv for a while).

You'd be lucky to get 2 x half hour spells doing much else in a day -- plus maybe a half hour sitting down for a meal. And don't expect them to walk nicely thru an art gallery; expect their slowest pace to be a brisk trot.

Beaches/parks/playgrounds/museums set up for small children are good. Brief cafe visits.

Toddler stage is tough. To be honest, it is the one stage where weeekend breaks and grown-up centred holidays don't really work (ime). Babies are fairly portable, older children are (slightly) more reasonable....but 2-4 yr olds just won't play ball!

I'd knock this sort of holiday on the head for a bit and go for more child-centred holdiays - camping perhaps, or a family resort in the sun with a pool, or perhaps a cottage in the countryside where you can completely dictate your own schedule.

we've just had a fairly successful holiday with our toddler - gave in to the idea that it basically had to be all about him 90% of the time (beaches, farm parks, aquarium, gardens he could run about it, more beaches, picnics, visit to a castle etc etc) and in the middle of the day we'd prob get an hour to sit down in a cafe or pub for lunch.

I would also suggest bribery, chocolate, sticker books, whatever works.

Agree about the brief trot thing

Bumbly, my DD, who is normally fairly chilled, was a bit of a nightmare handful last year on holiday.

However, she is very routine-driven at home, and I'm not sure she could cope with either the change or the spontaneity. I think when we go at the end of the month, I might do a bit of a planner with her - stuff she wants to do on certain days - and perhaps have a "what shall we do tomorrow?" chat at bedtime each night.

Also we are normally pretty strict about keeping sweet things just for pudding and the occasional treat, and TBH I think we let her have too much ice cream and juice.

thanks so much for help/support

nightmare was even though holiday was totally child centred...went in a nice cottage with garden esp for toddler

loads of new toddler toys were bought ot make new homne nice and unf

but then he became possesiver and would not play nicely with them...so all nice new treats/toys for holiday had to go

days were each day walk in park (short) and picnic and still he was whinging we weren't playing with him even though in beautiful country

no restuarants and no cafe

but still a nightmare and saying no to everythng like going to bed, don't hit rented funriture repeatedly hARD WITH DIRTY stick, don't be mean to mummy etc