How to holiday with children so you get a break yourself!

I was trying to book in a meeting at work recently when the other person suggested a date that I couldn’t do because I was on annual leave. My lovely colleague replied and said, ”I absolutely don’t want to disturb your holiday – I want you to enjoy the relaxation time to its fullest”.

I chuckled quietly to myself.

The truth is, as a parent and carer, for the last 15 years, any time we’ve been away with children has been full, with moments of joy, adventure, pleasure and delight, full of memories that are rich and long lasting.

But relaxing? Not a chance.

Why?

Because it’s also been full of the usual sleeping challenges (and when children wake crying in the night in a tent it’s decibels louder than anywhere else), bickering children, increased demands for snacks and the desire to be entertained. They’re exhausting.

Lots of it I wouldn’t change for the world, because it’s part of the season of life we’ve been in, but I’d be lying if I said that I ‘wouldn’t change a thing’. I’d LOVE a lie-in on holiday, a chance to read more than a page of a book without someone need something from me, a sunbathe on a beach sounds dreamy (without having to be buried in the sand), and the thought of time alone with my husband – heaven!

Holidaying with children is doing life with them in a different place. It’s not a ‘holiday’ in the conventional sense.