First time traveling without help

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your poor nanny. Hope you give her overtime.

Of course we do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bet OP is one of those people who has had nearly 24/7 help since the moment the first kid was born. Interacting with the children is done in highly limited doses, and anything mundane, dirty, and messy associated with children (feeding, changing, playing, putting to bed, bathing...) is done by the help. Changing a dirty diaper was never something she would sully her beautiful hands with. Children are nothing but a status symbol to her, and a frequently inconvenient one at that. Who knew children would be so loud, messy, and needy?!

I have done all of these things. I have changed diapers, fed, bathed, put to bed, etc. Everyone complains sometimes. I am part of everyone.

[Anonymous]

OP--I understand where you're coming from. This vacation is different from your pre kid vacations. And you're not used to being a with your kids full time. No judgement from me--I'm not a fan of spending every single waking moment with my kids either.

You need to reset your vacation expectations. Look at where ever you are from their eyes. What would be fun for them? My daughter once took 45 min to eat an ice cream cone on the beach. Yep, it was fully melted before she finished off the cone. And she was covered in chocolate ice cream--from head to toe. So we went into the water and washed it off. Then we played a bit in the ocean and built sandcastles---but that was a 2 hr activity.

2.5 hour romantic dinners are not going to happen. If your kids normally eat earlier than you, then let them eat first. But them to bed and order room service. DH and I have sat out in the hall and eaten dinner while the kids were sleeping. You do what you have to.

Can you go on a excursion? Is there anything at your location that kids would enjoy? In Hong Kong, I ended up a at a formal garden one day where tucked away was a small playground.

With kids, vacations are no longer about you relaxing and laying out by the pool. As mom and dad, your job is to create memories for the kids. And it's okay to say that mom and dad have played with you all morning, after we have lunch, we're all going to have quiet time, and then we'll do something fun again.

Try and enjoy your vacation.

[Anonymous]

Your poor kids. I bet they miss the nanny too, since they sure aren't feeling the love from you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only have one kid, but we travel pretty extensively, just the two of us, and I really enjoy it.

He does not lay out by the pool, but he will swim in the pool for hours on end. So I spent most of my "pool time" in the pool. I catch up on my reading either while he is napping, or after he goes to bed.

Dinner is never elegant, but my kid is pretty OK during dinner. We eat out regularly at home, so he is used to the expectations for restaurants.

My kids are only 3 and 4 - I'm not comfortable with them being in the pool without an adult. Ugh, maybe next time we will hire someone to come with us - we have to give the nanny time off, but I want to enjoy our vacations.

The rest of us do not want to enjoy our vacations. You are the only one.

Lol, good point. I don't really enjoy spending tons of time with kids. A couple of hours, four in a row at the most, and then I want a break. I know there are other mothers who very much enjoy spending all the time they possibly can with their children.

How old are you? You sound like an older mom.

How does she sound "older"?? And how old is "older mom"? Like gave birth at 47?!?

[Anonymous]

I am seriously hoping this is a troll it's so absurd. But since others are chiming in I'm here to tell you that we traveled a lot while living abroad with two young kids. We both worked full time and although we had a sitter for the kids we never brought her with us on any trips. The trick is to strike a balance between the things you and your husband want to do and what kids want to do. We also always made sure they got dinner at the regular time if possible and bedtime not too late. We would enjoy our evenings together after they were in bed and tried to find suites or apartments or lounges outside the room where we could have a drink, talk, read, or watch tv.

Only the top .01 percent bring help on family vacations. I personally enjoyed having that time off from work and school to spend more time with my kids.

[Anonymous]

I seriously thought this thread was going to be a 15-18 yr old on her first trip without parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haha such horrible people with their "help" ( what is this, 1950s Alabama?)

Yesterday on our vacation we were in the pool. 5 kids arrived with two nannies. Two of the kids kind of whine-screamed everything they said. Horrific. I literally got a headache. And one of the nannies said to one of the kids " see that dog over there, i will get it to come here and bite you if you dont shut up"

Carry on...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haha such horrible people with their "help" ( what is this, 1950s Alabama?)

Yesterday on our vacation we were in the pool. 5 kids arrived with two nannies. Two of the kids kind of whine-screamed everything they said. Horrific. I literally got a headache. And one of the nannies said to one of the kids " see that dog over there, i will get it to come here and bite you if you dont shut up"

Carry on...

I see nannies like this ALL the time. It's so sad. Kids would be better off in preschool or nursery all day than being home with a mean and verbally abusive nanny.

[Anonymous]

Generally in this situation we visit the estate of one of our friends or relatives and let their governess watch the children. Or charter a yacht that comes with a nanny. Or check them in at the resort's kid's club.
Once I knew a family that was poor. The maid was poor, the butler was poor, the chaffeuar was poor...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am seriously hoping this is a troll it's so absurd. But since others are chiming in I'm here to tell you that we traveled a lot while living abroad with two young kids. We both worked full time and although we had a sitter for the kids we never brought her with us on any trips. The trick is to strike a balance between the things you and your husband want to do and what kids want to do. We also always made sure they got dinner at the regular time if possible and bedtime not too late. We would enjoy our evenings together after they were in bed and tried to find suites or apartments or lounges outside the room where we could have a drink, talk, read, or watch tv.

Only the top .01 percent bring help on family vacations. I personally enjoyed having that time off from work and school to spend more time with my kids.

This. So much this. I'm sorry, OP, but if you aren't a troll, you are so laughably out of touch with reality that you should probably just not socialize or speak to the rest of the peons.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like either you have unrealistic expectations, you don't actually like your kids, or your kids are utter brats and you won't admit it.

[Anonymous]

I love threads like this.

[Anonymous]

This reminds me of the time I met the nanny of a Hollywood celebrity's kids! She went along with them for a summer-long trip to Cape Cod, and it happened that she knew a friend of my sister and wound up meeting us all for dinner.

We didn't get to meet the celeb in question, but she said unlike others she had worked for before, he was pretty nice. I guess he had two different nannies for his kids, both live-in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a joke I hope. What do you do at home? No kid wants a 2.5 hour dinner.

DH and I work full time.

Don't you have dinner with the kids? Don't you spend time with them on the weekend? It sounds like you don't know how to take care of children at all! Do you have 27/7 nannies?

They eat dinner earlier than we do. Generally we eat dinner after they're in bed. We do spend time together on weekends. I do know HOW to take care of the children; I've just never gone on a vacation with them without bringing the nanny before. Our nanny works from 7:30 am to 6:30pm.

OMG: Why did you have kids? Seriously.