{"id":80985,"date":"2024-09-16T11:32:23","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T04:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/?p=80985"},"modified":"2024-09-16T11:32:23","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T04:32:23","slug":"i-took-a-family-vacation-and-now-i-know-holidays-with-children-arent-a-rest-at-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/i-took-a-family-vacation-and-now-i-know-holidays-with-children-arent-a-rest-at-all\/","title":{"rendered":"I Took a Family Vacation and Now I Know Holidays With Children Aren\u2019t a Rest at All"},"content":{"rendered":"
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My name is Mary, and I want to share my thoughts on why vacations with children are not relaxing at all, just like maternity leave. However, that does not stop us, parents, from enjoying various trips with our little ones.\n\n

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Relaxing for a\u00a0second? Not possible.\n\n
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\u00a9\u00a0Hryshchyshen Serhii \/ Shutterstock.com\n
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Every mom knows: you can\u2019t take your eyes off your child for a\u00a0second, or\u00a0they might get hurt, eat something they shouldn\u2019t, or\u00a0vanish altogether. I\u00a0once lost my\u00a03-year-old son at\u00a0a\u00a0train station. It\u00a0was crowded with people, trains, and suitcases. My\u00a0heart sank.\n

Then I\u00a0saw some woman holding my\u00a0son\u2019s hand and walking away. I\u00a0ran after them, caught\u00a0up, and my\u00a0son ran to\u00a0me. The woman turned out to\u00a0be\u00a0harmless: she was just taking my\u00a0son to\u00a0the information desk. I\u00a0breathed a\u00a0sigh of\u00a0relief.\n

That\u2019s how vacations with children are: you have to\u00a0be\u00a0constantly alert, so\u00a0you don\u2019t lose your child in\u00a0any way. It\u2019s easier with a\u00a0baby who can only eat and sleep (and not crawl or\u00a0walk yet). With children from one to\u00a018\u00a0years old, you can\u2019t relax: the younger ones always try to\u00a0fall, run away, or\u00a0break something, and the older ones get into various adventures.\n\n

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Instead of\u00a0going where we\u00a0want to\u00a0go, we\u00a0choose the places where our child will have a\u00a0great time.\n\n
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Travelling with young children can be\u00a0challenging and stressful. Parents may wonder if\u00a0it\u00a0is\u00a0worth going to\u00a0the other side of\u00a0the world when they cannot predict how their child will cope with a\u00a0long flight, a\u00a0different climate, a\u00a0foreign cuisine, or\u00a0a\u00a0potential illness without a\u00a0reliable pediatrician nearby.\n

Similar problems arise with shorter trips. For example, my\u00a0son used to\u00a0get seasick in\u00a0any mode of\u00a0transportation until he\u00a0was seven years old, and he\u00a0could not take any medication for it\u00a0because of\u00a0his allergy. He\u00a0would turn from a\u00a0happy kid to\u00a0a\u00a0miserable one after 30\u00a0minutes in\u00a0a\u00a0car, a\u00a0boat, or\u00a0a\u00a0train, and it\u00a0would stress everyone out.\n

With children, parents\u2019 preferences become less important. It\u00a0does not matter if\u00a0mom wants to\u00a0go\u00a0to\u00a0Goa or\u00a0dad wants to\u00a0go\u00a0camping, when even a\u00a0visit to\u00a0the nearest park requires more than a\u00a0day of\u00a0planning.\n\n

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Children are more susceptible to\u00a0infections than adults.\n\n
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\u00a9\u00a0Qfamily \/ Flickr,\u00a0\u00a9\u00a0CC BY 2.0\n
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Children seem to\u00a0attract all kinds of\u00a0illnesses, and it\u00a0has always been like that. When I\u00a0was a\u00a0little girl, my\u00a0parents took me\u00a0to\u00a0the sea with a\u00a0large group of\u00a0adults and children. We\u00a0all swam until our lips turned blue on\u00a0the first day, and the next day\u00a0I ended up\u00a0in\u00a0the local\u00a0hospital\u00a0with my\u00a0mom\u00a0\u2014 I\u00a0had a\u00a0fever of\u00a0almost 104\u00a0\u00b0F.\n

I\u00a0got strep throat, and we\u00a0spent 12\u00a0out of\u00a0the 14\u00a0days of\u00a0our vacation in\u00a0the hospital (my\u00a0mom had to\u00a0pay extra for staying with\u00a0me). I\u00a0only saw the sea once during the whole trip, but\u00a0I got to\u00a0know the hospital very well.\n

Now I\u00a0am a\u00a0mom and my\u00a0first aid kit takes up\u00a0half of\u00a0my\u00a0suitcase because\u00a0I also have to\u00a0bring an\u00a0inhaler and some medicines that are not available everywhere. My\u00a0son had already caught rotavirus, flu, and conjunctivitis on\u00a0vacation. He\u00a0also hurt his forehead on\u00a0the playground. And that was sort of\u00a0a\u00a0not-so-severe case. Our neighbor\u2019s daughter, for example, came back from the sea with a\u00a0cast on\u00a0her leg last year, and on\u00a0her arm this year.\n\n

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My\u00a0kid doesn\u2019t want to\u00a0vacation like I\u00a0do.\n\n
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\u00a9\u00a0shawn \/ Flickr,\u00a0\u00a9\u00a0CC BY-SA 2.0\n
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Different people have different preferences for their vacations. For example, I\u00a0love visiting the zoo in\u00a0every city, spending hours there, and learning fun facts about animals, but my\u00a0son does not share my\u00a0enthusiasm. He\u00a0gets bored easily by\u00a0looking at\u00a0giraffes or\u00a0elephants, and he\u00a0is\u00a0more interested in\u00a0the rides he\u00a0sees nearby. He\u00a0does not complain, but it\u00a0is\u00a0not fun to\u00a0walk with a\u00a0sad and sighing child. I\u00a0compromise, trading otters and gazelles for carousels.\n

Parents often have to give up their own interests for their children, and vacations are no exception. We skipped a lake in the forest because my son gets nauseous in the car. I do not plan long walks in the old towns that I adore, as the child cannot walk for many miles in the direction I want. Of course, children grow up, but I don\u2019t know yet when things will get easy.\n\n

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Sometimes I\u00a0feel we\u00a0shouldn\u2019t have those vacations at\u00a0all.\n\n
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Children often have different memories of\u00a0vacations than what their parents expect. I\u00a0remember when my\u00a0son was 3.5 years old. It\u00a0was his first big trip to\u00a0the sea\u00a0\u2014 we\u00a0took a\u00a0train, a\u00a0plane, saw mountains, waves, everything. When we\u00a0got home, my\u00a0mom asked him, \u201cWhat do\u00a0you remember most, grandson?\u201d And my\u00a0son answered without hesitation, \u201cMom and some guy had a\u00a0funny fight over a\u00a0watermelon.\u201d\n

It\u00a0was an\u00a0epic situation where we\u00a0bought a\u00a0rotten watermelon. The seller insisted it\u00a0was just ripe, and\u00a0I tried to\u00a0make him eat\u00a0it! It\u00a0might have seemed hilarious from the outside, but\u00a0I was upset: why take the child so\u00a0far for such an\u00a0experience, when we\u00a0could have had the same drama in\u00a0any grocery store near our home?\n

Such twists in\u00a0children\u2019s memory often discourage parents. Moms and dads who spent a\u00a0lot of\u00a0nerves and money on\u00a0vacation with their children feel devastated by\u00a0such statements! But still, after a\u00a0year or\u00a0two, they pack their bags again and take their children to\u00a0new places to\u00a0admire the beauty of\u00a0the world, even if\u00a0their main memory will be\u00a0not what parents expect.\n\n

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But despite the challenges, vacations with kids are awesome.\n\n
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\u00a9\u00a0McDoobAU93 \/ Wikimedia Commons,\u00a0\u00a9\u00a0CC BY-SA 3.0\n
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I\u00a0have been a\u00a0mother for eight years now. In\u00a0these years, I\u00a0have had five vacations with my\u00a0child, and\u00a0I have learned to\u00a0accept them as\u00a0a\u00a0different kind of\u00a0rest. Vacationing with a\u00a0small child will never be\u00a0the same as\u00a0without one, but it\u00a0has its own benefits.\n

The most obvious one for me\u00a0is\u00a0the chance to\u00a0relive my\u00a0childhood. I\u00a0grew up\u00a0too fast and became a\u00a0helper for my\u00a0mom, and there was not much fun in\u00a0the small town where we\u00a0lived. Now with my\u00a0son, I\u00a0can do\u00a0all the things I\u00a0missed: buy cotton candy, go\u00a0to\u00a0the haunted house and the \u201cUpside Down House\u201d, and go\u00a0on\u00a0rides. When I\u00a0did not have a\u00a0child, I\u00a0never went to\u00a0places where all these were possible, but now I\u00a0do it\u00a0all the time, and\u00a0I enjoy\u00a0it.\n\n

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\u00a9\u00a0Natali Brillianata \/ Shutterstock.com\n
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I\u00a0have learned that children are very easy to\u00a0please, they do\u00a0not care about the prestige of\u00a0the place or\u00a0the number of\u00a0stars in\u00a0the hotel. Until a\u00a0certain age, they are happy to\u00a0vacation anywhere, as\u00a0long as\u00a0their parents are nearby and engaged in\u00a0the process. For example, this summer we\u00a0could not go\u00a0abroad, and we\u00a0stayed in\u00a0the countryside for a\u00a0month. We\u00a0had to\u00a0improvise and find entertainment nearby.\n

My son and I hid a treasure at the cottage, visited an ostrich farm, had a picnic with his friends in a forest, and went to an open-air movie theater in a nearby town. He was so eager to tell his friends in the city about these small adventures that I realized that no sea had ever impressed him so much.\n\n

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Human memory is\u00a0a\u00a0mysterious thing, and you never know what will stay in\u00a0your mind for a\u00a0few days and what will last for years. Maybe right after a\u00a0trip, a\u00a0kid will say that they remembered their first ice cream or\u00a0a\u00a0balloon shaped like their favorite character, but in\u00a0fact, they will remember how they rode on\u00a0their dad\u2019s shoulders or\u00a0how their mom taught them to\u00a0swim. I\u00a0believe that these emotions and impressions stay with a\u00a0child forever, even if\u00a0they can\u2019t express them at\u00a0first.\n

Who knows how life will turn out in\u00a0the future, but happy memories from childhood will definitely come in\u00a0handy. Creating such bright moments of\u00a0joy for your child is\u00a0a\u00a0real pleasure, even if\u00a0we\u00a0come back from vacation with them more tired than we\u00a0were before.\n

Yes, vacationing with children is\u00a0not relaxing at\u00a0all! But it\u00a0is\u00a0a\u00a0building block for their bright future. That\u2019s why\u00a0I think it\u2019s worth it\u00a0to\u00a0gather my\u00a0strength and have fun with the kids to\u00a0the fullest, whatever that means. After all, you never know: whether this particular vacation will go\u00a0smoothly or\u00a0not.\n\n

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Our readers have very different experiences of\u00a0vacationing with children.\n\n
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\u00a9\u00a0freepic.diller \/ Freepik\n
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