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This is such a personal thing and every kid, parent, family, situation, etc. is different. But personally we wouldn't have been able to enjoy any sort of vacation or holiday or whatever without our kids being with us when they were that young. We would have worried too much or missed them too much or just simply thought about them too much to really relax and enjoy the rest and freedom.
I think when they are young like that, being away for a day would have been nice, but overnights we just never did.
Now, however, they are teenagers and we take trips away without them and it's very enjoyable!
This is such a personal thing and every kid, parent, family, situation, etc. is different. But personally we wouldn't have been able to enjoy any sort of vacation or holiday or whatever without our kids being with us when they were that young. We would have worried too much or missed them too much or just simply thought about them too much to really relax and enjoy the rest and freedom.
I think when they are young like that, being away for a day would have been nice, but overnights we just never did.
Now, however, they are teenagers and we take trips away without them and it's very enjoyable!
I'm still that way even with my kids being older. I wouldn't enjoy a vacation away from my kids anyhow. I took trips before I had kids but trips with kids is a whole lot better as far as I'm concerned.
I loved it when my brothers and I were farmed out separately! LOL I could get all of the attention while staying with grandma or auntie or whoever, and I'm sure they liked the arrangement as well.
I loved one on one time with my grandparents. I often stayed at their house during school breaks, and for weeks over the summer. They lived on a lake and it was pure heaven.
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Originally Posted by Natsku
Ah yeah the extra attention was nice, and was good getting a break from living with 4 boys!
Try living with 6 brothers! I loved getting a long break from that!
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Originally Posted by aliss2
OP here.
Hah! Interesting discussion. A language debate over the usage of vacation and holiday. Since I am actually an ESL teacher (ironic), let me explain. In British English, the word holiday is used interchangeably with vacation. There is some history behind that, mostly related to politics. I am Canadian, so we generally use British spelling and mix our British/American usage depending on the word/subject. Americans, as I understand, use the term holiday to describe a widely-designated day on the calendar (Christmas, Labor (Labour) Day, etc).
Either way, I'm looking to have some drinks where the sand is white and the ocean is blue. Call it a whoozlewhuzzle if you want, I just don't want to have to deal with diapers and naps when doing it.
I hope you get to enjoy that whoozlewhuzzle soon. White sand and blue ocean sounds wonderful during this hot spell.
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Originally Posted by malamute
I'm still that way even with my kids being older. I wouldn't enjoy a vacation away from my kids anyhow. I took trips before I had kids but trips with kids is a whole lot better as far as I'm concerned.
I never vacationed without my son - that is, until last year when he was 29! This was a big deal for us because of his issues. He had spent one night alone a few years prior, but this was for two nights and he was a bit scared. However, he handled it well.
He is more like a 13 year old, but being a full adult, I do give him any and all adult privileges that go with adulthood. This is our reality.
My own parents left the 7 of us home with grandparents, aunts, cousins and even some really cool babysitter that we called "Nanny". Nanny made the bestest cookies in the world!
I would guess we were babies when this started, since them going away (usually to go camping alone and to scout out a spot for all of us to go next time) was a yearly thing, none of us missed them one bit.
I am thinking maybe 4-5?, I'm not sure. My youngest is only 8 months but I think my 3 year old would be okay, but he's a bit young too. Did anyone leave at 3-5 for a week, how was it? Their grandpa would stay here and they are very close to him, so I'm not worried about care.
We're actually taking our first long trip sans kids later this summer. We've never been away from either longer than a weekend. We have an almost 3 year old and 6 month old. Grandparents are watching them for a week. I'm more worried about them than I am about us or the kids. My mom watches them on a regular basis but a week straight is going to wear her out.
My oldest was 18 months old the first time we left for any length of time - we took a 10-day trip to Hawaii. That was a few days too long for Gramma, who wasn't used to a toddler. We called every day to talk to our daughter and she was fine.
The youngest was 10 months old when the other grandmother came to our house to take care of him and his 4-year-old sister for a week while we went to Europe. Nana taught the oldest about time zones, and DD was tickled that I was sleeping while she was eating dinner. Again, we called frequently. The youngest was fine because his sister was there. The only issue was that baby took his first steps while we were gone - aarrrggh! Had no idea he'd walk that early.
We never did. We did lots of family vacations, but neither of us wanted to leave our kids with other relatives. We would have missed them far too much.
My wife and I had a weekend together alone 2 weeks ago and left our daughter with a good friend to babysit for the weekend... she was 16 weeks old at the time.
It's all a matter of personal preference though... some may consider that "too soon" and some won't. Bottom-line though, our daughter has been so good since her birth that we felt comfortable leaving her for the weekend. She's been sleeping 11-12 hours a night for every night since she's been 6 weeks old.
If she was a problem or too much to handle then we would have probably would have never went.
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This was a big deal for us because of his issues. He had spent one night alone a few years prior, but this was for two nights and he was a bit scared. However, he handled it well.
