DD does not want to come on another caravan holiday next summer

[Charlotte350]

Have been discussing family holidays over dinner today and my DD going on 15 said "if it's another caravan holiday to Mabel thorpe I'm not coming" she stated how much she hates it and I said well in that case you will have to stay with grandparents...she then said "I would be happy staying at home and just have a few friends over and I said no and tbh she was really rude and back chatting me while I said calmly what my reasons were. I think she should come on the holiday, however I don't want her spoiling it with moodiness if she doesn't want to be there so I will be asking grandparents to have her it would only be for the week. I'm not leaving a 15 year old home alone for a week. Has anyone else left a teenager with a relative/ grandparents while on holiday when they don't want to go?

I think every parent of teenagers has this conversation at some point. My eldest blatantly refused to have another caravan holiday. We never managed to get her away in it again. Teenagers start to need space and caravans are too intimate I think. Anyhow I would make alternative arrangements.

Husband and I went away for five days when son was fifteen. I arranged for him to stay at his best friend's house, the parents were happy to accommodate.

It was during the school holidays. During the day they would come to our house and have other friends round, then go back to friend's house and parents to sleep only :-). They had a great time and got everything tidy for when we returned.

Oh dear god ... My parents had a caravan when we were kids. My puberty hit, trying to deal discreetly with periods and a chemical toilet, zero privacy, kept awake by Dad snoring, having to get dressed in front of everyone, having to cross to the toilet blocks for a shower in all weathers ... 15 is the worst possible time to have to share a caravan especially with littles. I absolutely see her point.

Those saying 'make her' - will you be picking up a potentially adult woman sized girl and physically cramming her into the car?

But you can't leave her on her own. Could grandparents come and visit while you're off with the kids?

Yeah, I would have hated that at 15.

A towing caravan, with three much younger siblings plus parents all crammed into it, sounds utterly hellish for a 15-year-old. Zero privacy and everything all about the needs of the toddler and 6-year-old.

It’s making me feel claustrophobic and stressed just thinking about it.

Isn't the idea of having a caravan you tow that you can go anywhere, not just the same place every year?

Also why have a family if you just wanted to do as you please the whole time and bugger anyone else's opinion?

6 people in a caravan in Mablethorpe , I don’t blame her.

Not addressing main point of thread here but in support of Mablethorpe.
Just returned from a mini break with our dd ( they come back !) & had the nicest time. Stayed at grange farm park in a lodge with hot tub. Just immaculate & lovely restaurant on site.
Beaches quiet & clean can walk for miles.
Louth like a mini York with lots of independent shops.
Would be different vibe high season but we’ll definitely return.
Hope you find a solution for your Dd 💐

Yep there’s a ton of snobbery on this thread from who have probably never been to Mablethorpe.

This. And I do quite a lot of camping in tents!

Why do you go to the same place all the time Why not go to Disneyland or Ireland or France or somewhere decent and proper? Going away for a holiday in a caravan? Ok if you are elderly retirees. Not nice at all for children. What were you thinking? Why don't you ever ask her where she'd like to go? Why not consider her wishes? At 15 she is definitely old enough to stay home for the week and have someone like a grandmother or neighbour to 'pop in' once every day or so to see how she's getting on.

I would get rid of the touring caravan, there are too many of you now and it’s going to get more and more cramped as the other kids grow. Can’t you stay on a holiday park and rent a proper static caravan with bedrooms and its own bathroom. My parents got rid of their touring caravan and switched to holiday parks when I was around 8 years old and it was a much nicer experience for everyone. Sleeping in a tent and sharing a shower block wouldn’t be my cup of tea either.

I stopped family holidays at 15 and my parents went much better places than Mablethorpe.

How about a short break to London? You could just take her and leave DH and the younger dc at home some other time.

I wouldn't do a holiday my DD didn't actively want to go on. Her views and needs are as important as mine. We discuss it together and agree on holiday plans.

Don’t blame her! A week in a caravan with parents, no privacy and little kids sounds rotten, especially if you’re 15! Let her stay with her grandparents. I agree 15 too young to be home alone for a week. Maybe give her some money for a treat day out with her friends as she’s not getting a ‘holiday.’

Where the holiday is is irrelevant really. One member of the family really doesn’t fancy that as a holiday (again!) but instead of discussing alternatives it’s come and pretend to be happy or stay home with Grandparents.

A 14 year old is allowed to have opinions and those opinions should be listened to and respected. If it’s just that she is bored of going to the same place then there are plenty of other places along that coast you could go to instead surely? There needs to be some compromise

I wouldn’t want to spend a week in mablethorpe at any age, let alone at 15 in a caravan with my parents????

Could you maybe bring a close friend of hers to make it more interesting? My parents used to do this when I was a grumpy teenager

Does she have GCSEs after a May half term hol?

I would prioritise that, if so.

Allowing my DS to be so addicted to gaming that he’d prefer to stay home and do that over a family holiday, to the point he “does his best to spoil it” isn’t how I choose to parent either.

but hey ho, people in glass houses.

@ThatBlackCat - I cannot imagine how an adult could be so stratospherically unaware of what they’re saying. The OP has already written - prior to your post - that their regular caravan holiday costs £400, for two adults and four children. But you’re excoriating her for not taking them all to Disneyland?

🧐

I wouldn't have wanted to go on a caravan holiday with parents aged fifteen. The less I had to do with parents at that age, the better.

Hmm a " lovely quiet beach " sounds boring as hell to me and I'm 54. At 15 id have rather gouged my eyes out

I wouldn't and didn't do this sort of thing, as a child or as an adult.
At 15, she's capable of making such sort of choice.

Agree

She needs to do as she's told re staying with grandparents. I do sympathise with her re Mabelthorpe though. I would check whivh tbe grandparents would prefer though, they have a life too