Have you ever gone on vacation with another family and left feeling deflated and inferior?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, your family is the normal and well adjusted family. Your kids know themselves and act accordingly. At that age, they don't need your approval. You've raised them well.

The other families (especially the adult children!) are doing some ingrained performative bullshit. Country Club families are full of this culture. It's weird!


OP here the first post that really resonated with me. Yes, it did in fact seem quite like a performance, always laughing, smiling, everything was hunky dory with them, it was almost suffocating. I mean if its real, good for them. Was I feeling jealous and "less than"? Yes I admit I was because we didn't have the same interaction with my kids but you are right at least they stood their ground and did what they wanted vs following the crowd. You lightened my mood and perspective a little...thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would people in their 20s and 30s want to spend time with other families whom they are not friends with, and the only connection is their 50 and 60 something parents? 5his is the worst vacation I’ve heard of in a while.

Two of the husbands are cousins (my husband and one of the other dads).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The OP did say the adult kids have known each other and are friends. This is probably a family friend child situation from childhood pushed out to adult children. Still though many times those friendships are like cousins. A bit forced and sometimes they click genuinely and sometimes not.

But to answer your question OP yes I’ve been on a group vacation and felt bad about my family and I didn’t go with those people again.

OP here yes kind of like that. Known each other a long time, have grown into different people. I will admit my kids are not the easy going type, they have strong opinions and can even be judgmental at times. I guess in light of seeing the interactions of the other two families, it made me feel like mine was just not jiving and going along with things easily. I mean for 4 days, they could have been a little more flexible (my kids) and did it for us? I don't know maybe my expectations are too high given that they are now adults

Bottom line I probably won't do that again. Might work for some but not for others. Vacations are meant to relax and rejuvenate not leave even more stressed then when you arrive!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, your family is the normal and well adjusted family. Your kids know themselves and act accordingly. At that age, they don't need your approval. You've raised them well.

The other families (especially the adult children!) are doing some ingrained performative bullshit. Country Club families are full of this culture. It's weird!


+1
We used to vacation with a family where the kids would always unquestioningly do whatever they were told and my kids were always the “complainers.” Turns out the dad was a total hardass behind closed doors and the kids cooperated so they wouldn’t piss him off. Needless to say we don’t vacation with them anymore.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think there is anything wrong with skipping a few group meals. I am an introvert and being with a group for every meal and needing to socialize and be “on” that often would be too much for me. And I like people!

It’s different if they were acting rude or ungrateful.

As for some families having a more engaged and unified vibe, I agree that would be nerve wracking and it would be hard not to compare. But you can’t change what you have, and it doesn’t mean that what you have isn’t wonderful or loving.

Personally I wouldn’t vacation like this again because it is making you feel bad, and that’s just so unnecessary when it comes to vacationing or maintaining friendships.

[Anonymous]

OP, do you enjoy vacations with just your own family/kids at this point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, do you enjoy vacations with just your own family/kids at this point?

I do though they don't happen much anymore since they are all adults. I was thinking maybe we should try a family vacation just our family to see how it goes. My husband likes the idea a lot. My kids are very independent and I realized in looking at those other adult kids, they seem to be much more dependent on the parents and very compliant. Whatever the parents said is pretty much what they did. I guess I am just not used to that.

[Anonymous]

Did others notice it too or just you? Did your grown kids feel bad/strange at all for not being at every outing?

[Anonymous]

This is very common in Europe, adult kids going on vacations and with other families a lot. We see it as normal, but we also have high tolerance for people doing their own thing, they want to join a meal- it’s good, but also
it’s good if they decide they want time with their partners or siblings. Maybe expectations were too high, it goes easier if it’s clear at the beginning everyone has choices

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is very common in Europe, adult kids going on vacations and with other families a lot. We see it as normal, but we also have high tolerance for people doing their own thing, they want to join a meal- it’s good, but also
it’s good if they decide they want time with their partners or siblings. Maybe expectations were too high, it goes easier if it’s clear at the beginning everyone has choices

Asia and Latin America too.

Even if the families aren’t international, I don’t understand the hostility towards the OTHER families in this thread as somehow robotic or deviant.

OP, different strokes for different folks. If this is the only time you’ve felt like your family does things differently from others, then count yourself lucky (and a little sheltered!) Now you know what kind of vacation doesn’t work for you.

No need to denigrate the other people you traveled with who found a trip style that clearly worked for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The OP did say the adult kids have known each other and are friends. This is probably a family friend child situation from childhood pushed out to adult children. Still though many times those friendships are like cousins. A bit forced and sometimes they click genuinely and sometimes not.

But to answer your question OP yes I’ve been on a group vacation and felt bad about my family and I didn’t go with those people again.

OP here yes kind of like that. Known each other a long time, have grown into different people. I will admit my kids are not the easy going type, they have strong opinions and can even be judgmental at times. I guess in light of seeing the interactions of the other two families, it made me feel like mine was just not jiving and going along with things easily. I mean for 4 days, they could have been a little more flexible (my kids) and did it for us? I don't know maybe my expectations are too high given that they are now adults

Bottom line I probably won't do that again. Might work for some but not for others. Vacations are meant to relax and rejuvenate not leave even more stressed then when you arrive!

My answer still stands that it is bizarre to do a "families" vacation with grown adult children.

The equivalent would be if OP's children planned a vacation where they each brought a friend whom they've known since childhood, and the friend brought their parents. But while OP 'knows' the parents from having seen them at PTA meetings or sports events 10+ years ago, the OP has never been direct friends with these other parents and would never in 25 years have made an effort to see these other parents directly.

Does that sound like a fun vacation to OP? If you're OP, do you want to have to spend all of your time on that vacation hanging out with your kids' friends and their parents who you 'know' but aren't friends with?

I can't believe people think this is normal.

[Anonymous]

I find it strange that you're paying for everyone when they're in their 20s. After college, my parents didn't pay for us. We paid our own way.

I will say that my sister often does things like that. She won't show up, she cancels often and does her own thing. For instance if our family was going to tour a castle or a historical site, she'll sit at the coffee shop next door on her computer instead. I know it upsets my parents but they mostly are embarrassed when other people see it. She frequently RSVPs for weddings/baby showers/Thanksgiving dinner type things and then doesn't show. Or doesn't RSVP at all and they track us down to ask.

It's autism and maybe some social anxiety. I've never figured out if she actually was trying to be rude or if she just didn't realize she was being rude (like RSVPing to a wedding and not showing). Whatever it is, it's not my parents' fault. My mom is incredibly well mannered, as am I.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the hell would adult children with their own fiancés want to spend vacation time with their parents’ friends and their children? I thought you were going to be telling a story about ten year olds and tweens not being into it. Your children are adults and surely would prefer to pick who they vacation with. I would have been surly too, if I was being asked to spend all my meals with other random adults I was not friends with. What were the circumstances of your kids coming? Did you ask as them to do you a favor where you would pay for it? And they didn’t realize how much of it would be spending time as a big group with the other families?

The whole thing just seems utterly bizarre that 31 year old children would be part of a “families” vacation organized by the parent generation

This is harsh but was my reaction as well. Families traveling with kids in their 20s and late 20s at that it sounds like?

Your adult children apparently don’t like the other adults. So as adults they should feel free to politely decline and not spend time with them. As long a they weren't rude I don’t see what the problem is. That doesn’t sound dysfunctional.

I agree with this. I think it's nice when families with adult kids still vacation together, but what OP describes sounds weird to me. Most people in their 20s are not eager to spend a week skiing with their parents friends and their parents' friends' adult kids. They have their own friends and generally can (and would prefer to) do something like that with them. Even if they know the parents' friends' kids.

I wonder if maybe the other kids had something in common (similar colleges, professions, hobbies, etc.) and OP's kids didn't have this in common and therefore were less interested in hanging out? Or I also wonder if there was something else going on, like maybe some actual bad blood between OP's kids and some of the other kids there, and the other kids were the sort to be very good at pretending everything is fine and OP's kids are more the kind to show their emotions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The OP did say the adult kids have known each other and are friends. This is probably a family friend child situation from childhood pushed out to adult children. Still though many times those friendships are like cousins. A bit forced and sometimes they click genuinely and sometimes not.

But to answer your question OP yes I’ve been on a group vacation and felt bad about my family and I didn’t go with those people again.

OP here yes kind of like that. Known each other a long time, have grown into different people. I will admit my kids are not the easy going type, they have strong opinions and can even be judgmental at times. I guess in light of seeing the interactions of the other two families, it made me feel like mine was just not jiving and going along with things easily. I mean for 4 days, they could have been a little more flexible (my kids) and did it for us? I don't know maybe my expectations are too high given that they are now adults

Bottom line I probably won't do that again. Might work for some but not for others. Vacations are meant to relax and rejuvenate not leave even more stressed then when you arrive!

My answer still stands that it is bizarre to do a "families" vacation with grown adult children.

The equivalent would be if OP's children planned a vacation where they each brought a friend whom they've known since childhood, and the friend brought their parents. But while OP 'knows' the parents from having seen them at PTA meetings or sports events 10+ years ago, the OP has never been direct friends with these other parents and would never in 25 years have made an effort to see these other parents directly.

Does that sound like a fun vacation to OP? If you're OP, do you want to have to spend all of your time on that vacation hanging out with your kids' friends and their parents who you 'know' but aren't friends with?

I can't believe people think this is normal.

I think you re the one with the issue. I know plenty of people who do this, both American and from other countries, its more common than you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the hell would adult children with their own fiancés want to spend vacation time with their parents’ friends and their children? I thought you were going to be telling a story about ten year olds and tweens not being into it. Your children are adults and surely would prefer to pick who they vacation with. I would have been surly too, if I was being asked to spend all my meals with other random adults I was not friends with. What were the circumstances of your kids coming? Did you ask as them to do you a favor where you would pay for it? And they didn’t realize how much of it would be spending time as a big group with the other families?

The whole thing just seems utterly bizarre that 31 year old children would be part of a “families” vacation organized by the parent generation

This is harsh but was my reaction as well. Families traveling with kids in their 20s and late 20s at that it sounds like?

Your adult children apparently don’t like the other adults. So as adults they should feel free to politely decline and not spend time with them. As long a they weren't rude I don’t see what the problem is. That doesn’t sound dysfunctional.

I agree with this. I think it's nice when families with adult kids still vacation together, but what OP describes sounds weird to me. Most people in their 20s are not eager to spend a week skiing with their parents friends and their parents' friends' adult kids. They have their own friends and generally can (and would prefer to) do something like that with them. Even if they know the parents' friends' kids.

I wonder if maybe the other kids had something in common (similar colleges, professions, hobbies, etc.) and OP's kids didn't have this in common and therefore were less interested in hanging out? Or I also wonder if there was something else going on, like maybe some actual bad blood between OP's kids and some of the other kids there, and the other kids were the sort to be very good at pretending everything is fine and OP's kids are more the kind to show their emotions.

what is "weird" exactly? We know so many who do this, we moved to NY 12 years ago and this is common in our area. We have done it with other families as well, this was the first time with this particular group however. The commonality, there might have been a smidgeon with the other two families' kids but not a lot.
My kids thought some of those kids were phonies, they thought they laughed at every joke, were overly polite (not a bad thing in my book) but my judgmental kids felt it was not genuine and thought the whole thing was just phony. No bad blood but different types of kids. My kids good or not, are not one to pretend or placate. So I guess I chalk this up to lesson learned and different strokes for different folks!