At what age does traveling with your kids become fun?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I only took my kids to the beach a three hour drive away until they were both in ES. No need to torture yourself with flights and airports and crying, tired children.

But what about you? Do you just not get to do anything fun for years?

[Anonymous]

It depends on the personality

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never. And we travel internationally with our kids twice yearly. It’s never going to be as magical or romantic as traveling with just your husband. My kids are good eaters, walk long distances well and fall asleep easily. But they don’t appreciate art museums, hate historic homes and aren’t interested in anything medieval. And after long days they aren’t interested in staying up past 9 so we miss a lot of the nightlife we used to enjoy.

I love my kids btw!! Our best trips have been anything nature, like national parks, or amusement parks like Disney or universal. Universal with express passes has been our best trips yet. But none of those trips compare to vacations that dh and I used to have.

It’s not a vacation with kids, it’s a trip.

It's my husband who is the difficult one in the family. This time our vacation was great because we dropped him off at his hobby camp every day and I did stuff with the kids. Everyone was happy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only took my kids to the beach a three hour drive away until they were both in ES. No need to torture yourself with flights and airports and crying, tired children.

But what about you? Do you just not get to do anything fun for years?

DP. I don’t find having kids fun. It’s a different kind of work and sometimes enjoyable but rarely.

Fun is date nights and childfree vacations using an overnight nanny or relatives.

Your new version of fun is going to work to pay for your kids.

[Anonymous]

Always because I have only one kid...a girl. Really depends if you have good luck with what kind of kid(s) you have.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the kids. My kids have done really well on road trips since they were toddlers. But for travel that involves more logistics and scheduling, my oldest became fun to travel with starting around age 5-6. Even then, he was open to anything, pretty flexible and mature. My youngest has ADHD and is now 9. It can still be difficult to travel with him.

[Anonymous]

We’ve been traveling on big trips since my 3rd was a few months old. There are moments that are tough but overall it has been great at every age.

[Anonymous]

I have been solo traveling with my kids (7) since she was three months old, 30 flights before Covid, and then restarted after she could be vaccinated. She’s always been a great sleeper and eater, and generally a very flexible kid. That said, “enjoyable” is a high bar. There’s a lot of planning that goes into travel with a baby and young child. And things will go wrong - they will change the train platform at the last possible second.You will not understand the gps arrow and you will need to take 100 stairs up a deep hill to grab your bus in the August sun. Luggage will be lost or stolen. You or the kid may pick up a stomach bug. You will miss air conditioning or indoor heating. You may rent a scam apartment. And then your kid may not see the best version of you. In the end it is worth it because you have only one life to live, you are exposing your kid to new experiences, you will learn new things about yourself in the process. If at all possible, do a slower vacation where the kid is in camp a few hours every day so you can have downtime to do a couple things you want to do.

[Anonymous]

7 is good all around

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When the youngest is 5

I would say when the youngest is 4 but obviously depends on the kid. And then once your youngest is 7 or 8 it’s far easier to do a more ambitious type of vacation…they can handle a longer day and more types of activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only took my kids to the beach a three hour drive away until they were both in ES. No need to torture yourself with flights and airports and crying, tired children.

But what about you? Do you just not get to do anything fun for years?

Not traveling. I’m a single parent and felt lucky to afford the beach trip. We had to skip it one or two years because I didn’t have the money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 1.5 and 3 and traveling with them is exhausting. When does it get better?

Sounds like you are doing it wrong if it's that exhausting. We did a lot of resorts, and if we wanted time alone to explore the city or have a day/night to ourselves we took the nanny along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only took my kids to the beach a three hour drive away until they were both in ES. No need to torture yourself with flights and airports and crying, tired children.

But what about you? Do you just not get to do anything fun for years?

Not traveling. I’m a single parent and felt lucky to afford the beach trip. We had to skip it one or two years because I didn’t have the money.

That's super sad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only took my kids to the beach a three hour drive away until they were both in ES. No need to torture yourself with flights and airports and crying, tired children.

But what about you? Do you just not get to do anything fun for years?

DP. I don’t find having kids fun. It’s a different kind of work and sometimes enjoyable but rarely.

Fun is date nights and childfree vacations using an overnight nanny or relatives.

Your new version of fun is going to work to pay for your kids.

This is so sad. Poor kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never. And we travel internationally with our kids twice yearly. It’s never going to be as magical or romantic as traveling with just your husband. My kids are good eaters, walk long distances well and fall asleep easily. But they don’t appreciate art museums, hate historic homes and aren’t interested in anything medieval. And after long days they aren’t interested in staying up past 9 so we miss a lot of the nightlife we used to enjoy.

I love my kids btw!! Our best trips have been anything nature, like national parks, or amusement parks like Disney or universal. Universal with express passes has been our best trips yet. But none of those trips compare to vacations that dh and I used to have.

It’s not a vacation with kids, it’s a trip.

barf. I really hate this sentiment. I absolutely view any trips we take with or without kids as a vacation. It a break from daily life and a way to connect in a new environment.

My kids are teens, 13 and 16 and are wonderful to travel with. Youngest was tough to travel with until he was 2 because he did not sleep well, but once we got past that he has been great.

I think that maybe some of it it comes down to kids personalities, parent personalities and what everyone enjoys doing. My kids are great travelers and enjoy most of the same things we enjoy. If you all enjoy vastly different things and have different ideas of vacation then yes, it will be tough but if you all enjoy the same things it can be amazing. If DH and I were to travel without our kids we would do the same trips we do with our kids- physically active vacation with lots of outdoor activities. None of us are really into museums and all prefer national parks over big cities. We all love our yearly ski trip out west and the time we spend together on the slopes and relaxing back at the rental.