The first thing any parent says on getting back from a family holiday is – ‘I NEED A HOLIDAY!!’
Worn out, unwashed, exhausted, penniless and in desperate need of some time alone, most of us are on our knees after just a weekend with the kids in tow. And that’s before six weeks of summer holiday kicks in, from which it takes us until Christmas to recover.
It doesn’t NEED to be this bad, of course. And there are ways to make family holidays enjoyable, refreshing, and even a little bit relaxing.
Here are some tips to make things easier:
Lower your expectations
Please take any fantastical ideas you may have of relaxation and culture, and put them in the ‘dream big’ folder. You’ll be lucky to see the brochure of the local sights, let alone visiting any Romanesque churches and appreciating their architecture. As for lie-ins or relaxing walks on the beach – well, you’ll get the odd moment, sure, but it won’t quite be a week in a spa to ‘think, rejuvenate and breaaathe’. If you go with this in mind, and count any moment of peace or one glance at a beautiful building or work of art as a huge success, you can enjoy it all a lot more.
Sun-seeking
Babies and hot holidays are not the greatest of friends. Their skin can’t tolerate the sun, and they can get very overheated quite easily. Even if you have a toddler with you, you’re going to spend most of your holiday attempting to attach a sun hat to his head, and slathering SPF 50 all over their body, which is almost as easy as pasting Polyfilla onto a knife-wielding octopus. Best to find somewhere lovely and warm, but not HOT, and with shade, even on the beach.
Childcare
May I recommend you start your holiday planning with a Google search of ‘crèche’, ‘childcare’ and ‘padded cell.’ I’m joking, of course. I almost never used childcare on holiday, choosing to spend this time with my children, rather than giving them to someone else to look after. BUT…. Friends who have used children’s holiday clubs, crèches, and childcare facilities have sworn by them, and I must say they looked a lot less ragged than I did after a holiday, so maybe they were more sensible than me! Play schemes, sports clubs and so on can be fantastic, especially for slightly older children who make new friends, learn new skills, and can have a wonderful time, while you’re free to look after the little ones, or just have a moment to yourself.
Driving
This is generally the cheapest way to get a whole family from A to B. But it’s slow, and it’s BORING for the children. We have very good little travellers. They can sit in a car for 8 hours, perfectly happily. But I realise this isn’t the case for everyone! These days car travel is much easier than it used to be, with loads of technology that can keep kids happy for hours. Use whatever help and technology you can get – laptops with DVDs, electronic games, iPods, magnetic games so the pieces don’t fall everywhere, and so on. This can save you on a long journey.
Mix it up
Make sure you factor in things for you ALL to do. A bit of sight-seeing for you, some sport for those who want it, a theme park for the kids…just a little something for everyone.
Stay in family-friendly places
This might sound like the ultimate nightmare, because now you’re on holiday with everyone else’s children, as well as your own, but family-friendly holidays means they provide everything you’ve cunningly left at home, there are friends on tap for your kids to play with, and you might meet other parents that you get on really well with, and can share looking after the children with. Win win win.
It’s a holiday
Amazing how easy it is to forget that! It’s not supposed to be a gruelling endurance test. Keep things simple, try not to over-plan, and just treat it as a break from the norm. That alone can be enough to refresh the tired corners of your soul, and make you come back smiling and ready for normal life again.