Not doing a real vacation this summer
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Anonymous
| For our family, anything longer than a long weekend at the beach is too much. Unless we're somewhere like San Diego where there is a lot of other stuff to do besides the beach. |
Anonymous
| A vacation isn’t a requirement as so many DC people act. What the big deal skipping a year or 3? |
Anonymous
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If you were on the SW gulf coast of FL, then you had plenty of opportunities for activities. Did you take the kids fishing? Boating? Tourist attractions?
Next time try a cruise. Limited beach time, but the beaches will be amazing. Excursions can be a mix of island tours, beach, water sports, caves, waterfalls, etc. |
Anonymous
Obviously we did! My OP didn’t list every activity we did but we did a dolphin sighting cruise and sandbar seashell excursion, a local state park, a natural springs, plenty of trips into the beach village for walking around and activities and treats. The kids didn’t enjoy any of it, OR the beach. They wanted to do the pool or be inside. Any other thing they complained about. I have no idea why some of you refuse to just answer a very simple posed question and instead read a very bare bones post and assume you could possibly assume many things I didn’t even address or won’t just accept I have no reason to lie about my kids not enjoying a trip and start probing for proof I must have clearly spent multiple thousands of dollars and taken a week off work to drag my children to a place only to purposely make them miserable. The question was, if you skipped vacation one year did you regret it. That’s it. It’s beyond bizarre how many of you feel the need to tell me basic dumbass things I did like pLaN aCtIvITiES or assume we did literally nothing but park them on the sand from 6 am to 6 pm each day. |
Anonymous
| Good grief. Is this your first time on a forum? People chat, bring up alternative ideas, and veer off the original question to talk about related things. This isn’t a short answer test. We’re not obligated to only answer your one question. And we can only respond based on the information you provide, so I’m not sure why you’re getting all huffy with people providing suggestions because you left out details. At the end of the day, who cares if we’ve regretted not vacationing? You clearly don’t want to vacation with your kids this year. Decision made. Move on. |
Anonymous
Now I'm wondering if your kids simply didn't enjoy being around you. Wowza. Assuming you did everything right and your kids still hated being on vacation, then here's what I suggest: -Ask your kids if they enjoyed your last trip, and then ask them what they specifically enjoyed or hated. Start there. I bet they did enjoy the trip. -Then explain that you are contemplating pulling the plug on vacation because the parents didn't appreciate the kids' behavior. See what reaction that prompts. We have 4 kids with different travel personalities, yet they uniformly love vacationing as a family. Ive never actually met a kid who hated vacations. |
Anonymous
This. |
Anonymous
I took your advice. “Why didn’t you enjoy vacation last year?” Response was “it was boring.” Response was not “I hate the way you snap at the other moms on the message board and it bled into our family trip.” |
Anonymous
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Yes, I regretted last year skipping the beach. Last year we went on a sight seeing vacation and I missed the relaxing time on the beach.
My 2 kids have really different personalities and interests and at home, they sometimes go days without really talking to each other. But they love vacations - i have worked really hard to get them involved with planning and also we divide and conquer a lot -- my younger DS likes zoos, aquariums, my older DS likes to sit around more and relax - we used to split up a lot and meet back for lunch - everyone has something fun to discuss. Plus my DH and I work hard - we like to vacation and I don't like to miss it. You might regret it -- so either don't have a vacation this year and see what you think, or take a beach or other vacation and try to figure out how to make it more enjoyable. Maybe everyone plans for a day? Or an activity? Or you get a babysitter once or twice? |
Anonymous
Then it's not you, it's them. So don't reward them. My kids are grateful for everything we do when we travel, but that's because we've taught them that travel is a blessing. They fully realize that most kids don't have passports and travel as frequently as we do. Heck, they've enjoyed staying at Springhill Suites in random suburban towns when we travel for baseball or LAX tournaments. Go to the Caribbean or Europe with your husband and leave the kids with the grandparents or ship them off to sleep away camp for two weeks. |
Anonymous
| Go on a cruise, put the kids in the club, then do whatever you want. |
Anonymous
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That was a year ago. You are still holding on to it.
Talk to the kids and see what they like. Find something in between. You can't really compromise with kids but it's an open discussion on where you might go for vacation. And it's not so much where but what you do on vacation. If they say they hate the beach, why go there. If they hate mountains, why go there. It's like if they hate pizza, why buy it. |
Anonymous
| I love beach vacations. Or loved them until we had kids. Until they learn to swim, get themselves a snack and entertain themselves without killing each other, we probably won't do a beach vacation. Relishing in the sounds of the surf, the ocean breeze, reading books for hours with my feet in the sand, drinking wine in solitude on the beach house deck.... none of that is possible with little kids, at least only in small doses! We have taken vacations that included beach time as part of the trip (San Diego, Costa Rica), but no parking on or near the beach for 7 days straight. My kids like activities and I enjoy MY vacation more when they're happy. Your kids are also old enough to give you some suggestions or requests in planning, which will make them more engaged and bought in to the process. |