Reply to Sending 3 year old on a vacation with grandparent

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[quote=Anonymous]Not with my parents or mother-in-law because they are all older (80's).  We are both significantly younger than our sibs and we had to wait to have children later, so there's a big age gap.

That said, we have a number of friends who I could see might answer differently.  We see these friends fairly often because our kids are close in age and some are in their 20's and have cooperative grandparents in the 50's to early 60's.  A couple of these grandparents have a very good relationship with the grandkids because the grandmother was daycare for the grandkids when the mother went back to work.  One kid, was dropped off at grandma and grandpa's house every day because their house was on the way to work and grandpa was not very able and couldn't leave the house easily.  She had always been a SAHM and was very comfortable caring for the grandson in the house where her kids grew up.  The other family, the grandmother came to the family's house daily because that was easier for them.  In these two cases, if the grandmother asked to take the kid on a cruise, I could see them agreeing.  First, the relationship is already there.  The grandparent can control the child (has to do it every day while the parents are at work) and the child heeds the grandparent.  All important factors.  In OP's case, none of those are there; the grandfather doesn't have a relationship, there's no guarantee the grandson will heed the grandfather and no evidence that the grandfather can control the child.

But onto the other portion, the cruise.  Having been on a cruise with my then 3 yo twins, I think a cruise is actually a better form of vacation for grandparents to take a grandchild on that most.  If they go on a cruise with a decent kids program (RCI has such a program), then actually the grandparents can build in breaks by taking the child to the kids program periodically for that break.  Also the buffet is a good way to handle even a picky eater as they can get whatever is needed for meals easily.  If the child doesn't like what's served first, no problem, just go get something else.  Also, there are quite a number of good options to keep the kid entertained on a cruise.  The pool deck including the kids pools are pretty good options.  There are usually shipboard entertainment that they can see and do together from bands, to games to classes.  I've seen kids watch entranced at the towel folding class or the ice sculpting class.  There are excursions that are designed for kids and seniors (we took a couple of bus tours with interesting stops with my parents and the kids, also took the kids to beaches or zoos/animal habitats that had lunch included, etc).  Cruises are designed to be all-inclusive and so many details are just handled and included.  The grandparents don't have to worry about details that they forgot or didn't think of, they often aren't added expenses and are easy to handle.   Regarding the safety issue, nowadays so many cruise ships are so large, it's not hard to keep the kids away from the outer decks except when embarking and debarking.  In many cases, a cruise is easier like being spoonfed entertainment and events.[/quote]

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