Do you leave your kids behind?

lovely1

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 11:59 am

I would like to know what you all do with your kids when you go on vacation for a few days or a week? I wanted to take a few days off with DH but I didn't want to leave the kids behind. We ended up going with the kids, but that wasn't really vacation for us, y'know. What do you do?

abby1776

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 1:44 pm

My sister leaves her kids with my parents or my parents go stay at her house all the time. My DH and I arent really comfortable with that because we dont let out kids watch TV and that is all my parents would let them do and as often as we discuss it with them they ignore our choices, so leaving with my parents is not really an option so we either dont go away or take our kids with us everywhere.

Liba

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 1:47 pm

We take our kids. When they grow up and live on their own we can enjoy vacations as a couple. Smile

MaBelleVie

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 1:49 pm

Some people leave their kids with friends or relatives. Some take them along. Do whatever works for you.

Personally, I would not leave a baby, or a toddler who is attached to one or both parents. I also don't have any family here, so I don't actually have the option of taking a vacation alone anyway. If I had only older kids and places for them that both they and I were comfortable with, I would do it. But that's a long way off.

MamaBear

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 2:04 pm

If my kids were older (let's say all over age 6) and I had close relatives who could watch them, I would definitely leave for 2 nights. But I wouldn't do it for longer than a few days, I would never leave kids with just a babysitter and I wouldn't leave behind a younger child.

So that eliminates any hope of dh and I getting away for a long time. We still take trips but we make them kid friendly and we give ourselves a pep talk before we leave, to remind ourselves that this is a family vacation and our expectations should be in check.

zaq

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 2:17 pm

Hey, folks, that's why they call it "parenting". It's a full-time job with no days off, no sick leave and no vacation pay. Any and all "vacations" are by definition working vacations when you have young children. With the nachas comes responsibility for a long, long time. After the honeymoon, nobody is "entitled" to a vacation a deux until they've discharged their parental responsibility, which is to keep their children safe until they reach legal adulthood. Vacations a deux are then the reward for having kept your children alive and out of trouble for 18 years.

flowerpower

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 2:49 pm

I never did that yet but if I neeeeeded it then I have family that would take them.

Tova

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 3:05 pm

We went away Shabbos Nachamu and left the kids at my in-laws. It was amazing but we would only do it if we had family that was thrilled to take them and my kids were excited about going as was the case, B"H.

Ruchel

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 8:21 pm

We plan to do a long (2 weeks to a month) vacation a year and a couple small (long WE, one week) ones.

My parents help, yes. It also gives them full time at their house or a vacation away.

I dont see that being a parent prevents from having couple vacations, if you can. It is very healthy for a couple, hence for a family.

Raisin

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 9:03 pm

We've gone away for a couple of days alone without the kids several times. But we have great vacations with the kids too! We just took them camping for 3 days, most years we have rented a cottage with a pool and have a great time. Yes, it's work, but much more relaxing then the regular schedule.ho

kitov

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 9:16 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

We never went anyplace.

I recall you posting recently about a retreat you attended. Was that not a vacation? Did you take your kids along?

sequoia

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 9:19 pm

kitov wrote:

chocolate moose wrote:

We never went anyplace.

I recall you posting recently about a retreat you attended. Was that not a vacation? Did you take your kids along?

Well they're grown up now.

bubby

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 10:59 pm

I'm going away with DH from Thurs night - Monday night, without DS. He's 23. Does that make a difference?

bubby

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 11:00 pm

kitov wrote:

chocolate moose wrote:

We never went anyplace.

I recall you posting recently about a retreat you attended. Was that not a vacation? Did you take your kids along?

MaBelleVie

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 11:06 pm

bubby wrote:

I'm going away with DH from Thurs night - Monday night, without DS. He's 23. Does that make a difference?

Who's watching him?

lovely1

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 11:11 pm

bubby wrote:

I'm going away with DH from Thurs night - Monday night, without DS. He's 23. Does that make a difference?

I thought you meant 23 months, but when I looked at your screen name I figured your talking about 23 years. Is he your youngest?

ESB

Tue, Aug 30 2011, 11:58 pm

I just came back from vacation. I left dd behind. It was the best thing for me and dd. She came home so refreshed. She didnt even miss me that much, she missed her toys more. I felt I needed the break. If you have where to leave them, then why take them along?

chocolate moose

Wed, Aug 31 2011, 12:12 pm

I started going on Retreats - by myself - when I turned 40. DH stayed home. My kids were well into their teenage years at that point.

vicki

Wed, Aug 31 2011, 1:34 pm

We don't go anywhere either. But when they are a bit older we would. Our younger children are from 8 down to 18 months.
If something special comes up usually either I go or my dh goes. That is true for most simchas and trips abroad to visit family. I would only go for a few days at most while dh would go for a bit longer. Very Happy