Your childhood memories of vacation, food, and going out to eat? Are you resentful?

[Anonymous]

I hope my kids don’t grow up to be bratty about this. I cannot imagine eating out 3x a day unless it was necessary. Too expensive and too many calories.

I grew up going on mostly driving vacations, we would eat out most dinners, but never lunch and usually one breakfasts as a treat. Otherwise, we always got a room with a kitchenette so we had cereal and milk and sandwiches for breakfast and lunch.

I try to rent houses/condos with full kitchens and shop at our destination. We limit meals out to just a couple times and otherwise cook as if we were at home. My spouse cooks too though, if this were a dynamic where as mom I was expected to cook everything for everyone all vacation long I’d be unhappy too. Had that once with ILs on vacation, where as the youngest female I was “expected” to do all the cooking and dishes and after one day of that (too young and naive to speak up right away) I pulled my husband aside and said in no uncertain terms that I was done.

[Anonymous]

My parents did an awesome job of celebrating special occasions at different kinds of restaurants— in part so that we, as kids, would be comfortable in a variety of social environments.

Only as an adult did I understand that some of the choices that they made were heavily dictated by the vestiges of legal segregation and racism on many occasions. I applaud my parents. I resent and deplore the social environment that made their efforts much more difficult than they should have been.

[Anonymous]

I am grateful for all of my childhood vacations and they were not all fancy. Lots of camping, multi-family Ocean City packed in like sardines, type stuff. I appreciate it all.

Daughter is a lot more fortunate, but the things she remembers and raves about already indicate it won't be the Michelin stars, exotic nature of the countries that she remembers, it will be that family was together enjoying each other

[Anonymous]

My parents rarely went out to eat. Maybe 5x a year and we always packed coolers for road trips. It was a think I acknowledge and talk about sometimes with my own kids, as we eat out substantially more often and frequently “just because I don’t feel like cooking” but I never have felt resentful about it. My parents made conservative choices with their money and didn’t and still don’t see value in what they call “pretentious dining” or general eating out just because when they have “perfectly good food at home”. To each their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am grateful for all of my childhood vacations and they were not all fancy. Lots of camping, multi-family Ocean City packed in like sardines, type stuff. I appreciate it all.

Daughter is a lot more fortunate, but the things she remembers and raves about already indicate it won't be the Michelin stars, exotic nature of the countries that she remembers, it will be that family was together enjoying each other

x10000

The family, and how the family members treat each other, matter most.

[Anonymous]

Oh gosh, I remember car trips in the 70s. We packed a big cooler with lunch food, cooled by bags of ice. I don't think the interstates had all the fast food restaurants they have now. It was bathrooms, a gas pump, and a bunch of picnic tables, and maybe some vending machines if we were lucky!

In fact I have vivid memories of pull over by the side of the road on a state highway and peeing in the bushes, too.

[Anonymous]

No. My parents did the best they could within their means. They had 6 kids.

[Anonymous]

Never had a vacation until I was 26. I used all my vacation days for my side jobs.

Never ate in a restaurant until I was 17 and had a government job. A manager was retiring and we were taking her to a French restaurant. I had no idea what to do. My boss told me that the quiche was good. To this day I still remember how good that quiche tasted, the bread, and the salad. Worked my way through an MBA in that agency and now run a successful consulting business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My aunt always felt resentful that we only went out to eat once to a nice restaurant. And maybe ordered pizza out. We cooked the rest of the time. It didn't feel like a vacation to her.

Your aunt sounds like an incredibly ungrateful brat. I hope her sense of entitlement wore off as she got older?

My aunt, my mother, and my grandmother were the ones doing all the cooking on vacation when we were kids. That was my point. I didn't feel resentment at going out to one nice restaurant a week or ordering pizza. She felt resentment having to cook during a vacation. LoL.

Exactly. For sure she was doing the cooking and the dishes while on that vacation. No wonder she felt resentful. I doubt her brothers or dad lifted a finger.

[Anonymous]

We went to day trips to the beach, accompanied by a better spread than most restaurants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I saw something recently, an article that mentioned someone resenting that their parents never took them out and always brought food from home when they went on vacations.

I’ve been on here about 13/14 years now and see that people still do bring foods to cook while on vacations. I never traveled as a child but I’ve done this as an adult to my own children never realizing this can be a negative memory. Not for every meal but I have taken things like oatmeal, cereal for quick breakfasts in the hotel room.

I did not go out to eat often as a child either, we had little money, single mom household and I loved every second and have fond memories of those times. I could count them on one hand but they were throughly appreciated. I even remember what I ordered.

Depends. How far away was the vacation, and had the food gone bad by the time they got there? Or was the mom just a terrible cook? Or was there something to that family that was disruptive or not a pleasant experience?

[Anonymous]

I have wonderful memories of vacations and restaurant outings. We'd take long road trips and go out to casual places every once in awhile. My parents could have afforded to spoil us with vacations and restaurants but they didn't. We had our educations paid for instead, which was far more important.

[Anonymous]

If childhood was happy, you don't think about lack of abundance of material things. If parents were neglectful or family was not a happy family, every small thing is going to make you resentful.

[Anonymous]

I have a fond memory of eating a bologna sandwich in a hotel room in Las Vegas. I hated the casinos, smoky, loud, I thought all the women wore too much makeup and so many places a young child couldn't just stand. My parents went out to dinner but I was so happy to be in my room where I could actually breathe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents are big “pack a cooler” people for outings, like the beach, the park, etc. but I barely remember what we did on vacations. I can’t even fathom why someone’s memories of family vacations are focused on what they ate.

+1 we always brought food on day trips etc. Probably also on some driving vacations. My parents are immigrants and while comfortable they were very frugal. We are less so. But I can't imagine being upset about this as an adult! I feel fortunate that I had a nice childhood and we could make memories, travel, etc.