It meant impromptu trips to the beach, camping in the woods, and sightseeing in old towns.
Only a few hours before boarding the train, my husband and I could decide on a holiday and were satisfied with the minimum comfort. However, after the birth of the baby, everything was different. We soon learned that vacations are not easy, especially when you have a family.
My name is Mary, and today I’d like to talk about why, like maternity leave, family vacations can be anything but relaxing. However, this fact does not prevent us parents from having various experiences with our children.
Do you want to relax a bit? It’s almost impossible.
As any mother knows all too well, looking away from a child, even for a short time, can result in unhappiness, uninvited snacks, or even disappearance. I remember very clearly misplacing my three-year-old in a busy train station. My heart sank.
Then I witnessed the woman turn around and take my son’s hand. Luckily my son rushed back to me as I panicked and chased after them. The woman accompanied him to the information desk with one goal: to help; she had no bad intentions. There was a sigh of relief.
A family vacation is similar to that moment at the train station. You need to be on the lookout all the time so that the children don’t get lost or get into trouble. While most of a baby’s needs include food and sleep, free time is still a rare luxury for children between the ages of one and eighteen. While the older ones go on numerous adventures that keep us on our toes, the younger ones are more likely to fall and get into mischief.
We choose destinations not so much according to our taste, but rather according to where our children will have a great time.
There are many difficulties when traveling with young children and it can be nerve-wracking for parents.
Parents often worry about how their children will react to long flights, unusual weather, unfamiliar foods, or possible health problems, especially when they are far away from their trusted pediatrician.
Shorter trips can present different challenges.
For example, I remember when my son was seven years old and he had motion sickness in various modes of transportation. Unfortunately, his allergies made it impossible to take medication for motion sickness.
So even a short thirty-minute excursion in a car, boat, or train could make our normally happy pup unhappy and cause stress for the whole family.
When children are involved, parents often find that their preferences are neglected. Whether dad wants to go camping or mom wants to travel to a tropical paradise like Goa, organizing even a simple trip to the neighborhood park becomes a laborious endeavor that requires careful organization and forward thinking.
Children get infected more often than adults.
It has always been true that a wide range of ailments seem to gravitate towards children. For example, I remember quite well how as a child I went with my family to the sea and there were many children and adults there.
The first day we swam with excitement until our lips turned blue. The excitement was short-lived, however, as I ended up in a nearby hospital the next day with my mother in tow with a dangerously high temperature approaching 104°F.
My mom paid extra to stay with me during our trip because I got angina and we spent most of it in the hospital. Although the sea was one of the main attractions of the holiday, I only got to see it once during our entire stay, but the hospital felt like a much more familiar place.
Ever since I became a mother, my first aid kit has taken up a lot of space in my suitcase. I have to bring an inhaler and some medicine that I may not be able to get here. During our vacation, my son battled illness, rotavirus, and conjunctivitis. He has had his fair share of accidents on the field, the least serious of which was a forehead injury. On the other hand, our neighbor’s daughter had a cast on her leg last year and her arm this year when she returned from a trip to the beach.
My child’s concept of holidays is different from mine.
Everyone has different tastes in holidays and it can be difficult when your child’s hobbies don’t match yours. For example, my son finds it less exciting than I do, even though I love going to zoos and spending hours there. The surrounding amusement rides pique his interest more. Even if he doesn’t moan, it’s annoying to witness how depressed he feels when we go on our trips.
I give way and replace the carousel animal exhibits.
The holidays are no exception to the rule that parents often have to sacrifice their interests for the benefit of their children. My son gets car sick so we might forego a vacation by a lake surrounded by trees. Despite my fondness for old cities, I try not to plan long trips there because my child is not able to travel in the direction I would like. Of course, children grow and develop, but it’s hard to say when things will get easier.
Sometimes I wonder if we should take a vacation at all.
Memories of childhood holidays are often different from what parents expect. It was my son’s first significant excursion to the sea that I can remember since he was three years old. We traveled by train and plane and saw the sea and the mountains. “What is your fondest memory, my grandson?” his mother asked him as soon as we got home. My youngster immediately said, “Mom and some kid had a funny fight over a watermelon.”
We bought the wrong watermelon but the seller swore it was ripe so it was an amazing situation. I even tried to give him a taste! While it may have seemed amusing to observers, I was angry as I questioned why we were driving our child so far for such an experience when we could have encountered the same drama at any local supermarket.
Parents can sometimes be put off by such unexpected twists and turns in their children’s memories. Parents who have spent a lot of time and money planning a family vacation may be disgusted to hear stories like this. Even if their early memories don’t match what their parents had in mind, a year or two later they are ready to show their children the world and new places, so they pack their bags once more.
Despite all the problems, family holidays are still fantastic.
I have had my child for eight years and in that time I have taken five trips. I have come to understand that these family vacations provide a special form of leisure. There are benefits to traveling with a young child, even if it’s not an adult-only activity.
Returning to one’s childhood is one of the most obvious benefits. As a child, I developed quickly and often took the job of my mother’s assistant. In our small town, there wasn’t much space for children to have fun. With my son, I can now enjoy all the things I missed: cotton candy, weird rides like the Upside Down House, haunted houses, and thrill rides at the amusement park. When I wasn’t a parent, I didn’t always follow these adventures, but today I fully embrace them and find great satisfaction in experiencing them through my child’s eyes.
It is clear to me that children have basic needs. They don’t care how famous the location is or how many stars the hotel has. Their happiness up to a certain age depends largely on the involvement and presence of their parents. For example, this summer we couldn’t go on holiday abroad, so we spent a month in the countryside instead. We had to think outside the box and find entertainment nearby.
I took my son on a treasure hunt at our cottage, took him on a tour of the ostrich farm, planned a fun lunch in the woods with his friends, and took him to an outdoor movie in a nearby town. His excitement as he recounted these small activities to his city pals helped me understand that no opulent beach vacation could match the happiness these small local experiences gave him.
The mystery of human memory often makes us wonder what experiences will stay with us forever.
A child may remember his first ice cream cone or silly balloon in the shape of his favorite character immediately after the holidays, but in reality, the memories stick to him more – riding on dad’s shoulders or learning to swim with mom. Although it is difficult for a child to express these emotions and thoughts at first, they become precious, eternal treasures in his heart.
Although we cannot predict how life will turn out, the happy memories of our early years will always be priceless. Creating these unforgettable moments of joy for your child brings true joy, even if it means coming home from vacation even more exhausted than when you went. Traveling with children does not guarantee free time, but it prepares the ground for a bright future for them. So no matter how things turn out, I think it’s important to take courage and enjoy your time with the kids to the fullest.
After all, we can never be sure that this particular vacation will go off without a hitch.
Our readers told us about their family vacation experiences.
I took my three and six-year-old girls to the beach.
Seeing them race in different ways was tiring. I felt more tired than when I was at home.
My husband asked our kids what their favorite memories were when we got back.
“Mommy changed into a bathing suit and took a shower,” remarked the eldest. Then she let out a seagull-like roar.” The water scalded my tanned shoulders and I cried out. I was surprised that it had survived the journey and the sea.
When we booked a bus tour to Crete, we made a mistake. Half of the bus was occupied by restless young children who could not sit still because of the sweltering heat. The kids were forcibly removed from a cute cat who had kittens at one of the stations and were forced to look at various attractions, which was the worst in my opinion. In the last eighteen months, my daughter has flown 10 years and visited eight different countries. I recognize that we put ourselves first rather than her.
However, she was happy to see a panda and swim in the Mediterranean Sea. Traveling with a child is undoubtedly more difficult than traveling without one, but it can still be done.
I don’t have any children, but I have fond memories of spending every summer at the beach with my parents. In life, my parents were comfortable individuals. They rarely brought toys, warm clothes, medicine, or other luxuries.
They told me to go to the sea and wash my chafed knees with salt water; if I got sunburned, the sunburn went away on its own; when I was cold I wrapped a blanket around me and never got sick.
I spent the whole day swimming, digging on the beach, and collecting shells. My favorite memories are yours! I long to return to that period.
It can be difficult to navigate the complexities of parenting, as certain actions – even unintentional ones – can negatively impact our children. Finding these elements is essential if we want to protect our children’s emotional health and growth.
Family vacations, as Mary’s musings reveal, are far from the peaceful places many imagine. Rather than simple relaxation, these trips are often a whirlwind of challenges and adjustments, driven by the needs and moods of young children. The shift from carefree adventures to carefully planned outings underscores a larger truth: parenthood reshapes our understanding of rest and leisure.
Despite these challenges, a family vacation offers something invaluable. They provide opportunities for creating memories together, seeing the world through our children’s eyes, and finding joy in small moments. As Maria’s story shows, the exhaustion and chaos are balanced by the joy of witnessing our children’s excitement and wonder.
While family vacations may not always live up to our pre-baby expectations, they offer a different kind of fulfillment. It teaches us that the essence of a vacation is not the grandeur of the destination, but the connections we make and the memories we create together. Adopting this perspective allows us to find joy in the journey, even if it is less peaceful than we once imagined.