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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.
My sister and I were left with my grandmother for a week every year while my parents went out of town. We grew up doing that though, so it never seemed strange or traumatic to us.
I would say almost any age as long as the child doesn't have seperation issues and can handle it. If you have good care arranged for your children and you know they will be safe and well taken care of...and you know that they aren't going to spend the week crying because you are gone - you should be fine to go out of town.
If you can leave your kids with Grandpa for a couple of nights without them having a problem, then a few more nights might be just fine! I would probably start with one overnight, then two nights, then a long weekend (3-4 nights) before going for a week, if possible. That would ensure that the kids are comfortable with it and also that Grandpa is up for the challenge of having two small children for several nights in a row!
As for me, we haven't gone away for a week without our kids, only an overnight, and they're 12 and 10. It's not that we think they can't handle it; it just hasn't come up as a real option. We live far from family and while friends are great for one night, I wouldn't ask for longer than that. I think it's fine at any age (once the baby is weaned, if you're nursing) as long as they are very comfortable with their caregivers AND the caregivers are patient enough to handle it.
With the oldest, we went out of the country for a week when he was almost 4. He stayed with his grandparents, and had a wonderful time. With our youngest, he was about 6 months, and again, the grandparents stepped in to watch them all.
We had no concerns that my parents couldn't handle all three of them, they had raised 7 of their own.
I'm thinking our son was two or a bit younger when we left him with the grandparents. No issues.
Our grandma would come to our house and watch us a lot while our parents traveled - mostly for business. Mom would always go with dad. We LOVED having grandma there. She was a hoot and we tended to get away with stuff as well.
Lucky all of you who had grandparents to care for your children. From the time our children were born until they graduated from high school my husband and I had one weekend away (while my brother & SIL cared for our first child) and that was to attend a reunion not a romantic vacation.
Oh the other hand, my husband's sister and her husband took many, many, many weekend and week and two week long vacations starting from the time that their son was a baby until he was a teenager. But Grandma & Grandpa (my husband's parents) lived only a ten minute drive away from them vs. 1,000 miles away from us.
I'm not really complaining because we enjoyed traveling together as a family but it would have been nice to have the option of a romantic weekend or vacation without kids even once every five or ten years of marriage. .
Slightly different for me as my daughter is used to being away from me for several days or a week at a time because of visitation but me and OH are hoping to take a 7 or 8 day holiday without her sometime in the next year or so (she's 2 and a half now). I think generally speaking that as long as they are out of the separation anxiety stage then they'll be fine while you take a little holiday. Can't remember when my parents started doing it but they often went away without us and me and my brothers were split up and sent to various friends of the family (sounds unpleasant but it wasn't)
Slightly different for me as my daughter is used to being away from me for several days or a week at a time because of visitation but me and OH are hoping to take a 7 or 8 day holiday without her sometime in the next year or so (she's 2 and a half now). I think generally speaking that as long as they are out of the separation anxiety stage then they'll be fine while you take a little holiday. Can't remember when my parents started doing it but they often went away without us and me and my brothers were split up and sent to various friends of the family (sounds unpleasant but it wasn't)
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.
We left DS with my parents just after he turned two for two weeks, not for vacation but so we could go and get settled at our new place in a different state. He was used to spending lots of time with them as we lived close by since his birth, plus my grandma was visiting from another country as well so they got to spend time together. He was perfectly fine, barely remembered we weren't there, lol. This year, at 3.5, we just left him with them for a week to go on actual vacation, our first since he was born. We're planning to have number 2 soon, so wanted to make use of the opportunity! Again, he was perfectly fine and happy. He gets super spoiled and lavished with attention when he's here, especially now that we live further away, so he's not complaining!
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