How do people vacation yearly with kids???

List of Forums + New Post Recipe Box Usergroups Following Log in

Join Now

| | | | |

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next Last >>

Forum -> Vacation and Traveling

View latest: 24h 48h 72h

amother

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 1:50 am

DH and I would love to go away for a week once a year.
How do people do it while their kids are young? Where do you leave your kids if your siblings never go away and leave their kids with you?
I don't feel comfortable leaving with friends.

amother

Lightgreen

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 2:02 am

Married 10 years and never left the kids. Family isn't able to, don't feel comfortable asking friends and babysitters are too expensive.

Hoping that when the big kids get older they'll be able to hold down the fort on their own for a day or two. If not, we will hopefully be able to get away when the kids grow up.

notshanarishona

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 2:02 am

Either take your kids with you or hire an overnight sitter. Personally (even if money wasn’t an issue), I would strongly hesitate to leave my kids for a week for a non emergency unless it was a once in a lifetime type trip.

salt

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 2:49 am

Most people where I live don't go away for a week and leave their kids with someone else.
Those with relatives living nearby might go away for a shabbat once a year or so.

DrMom

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 2:51 am

We go away with our kids. We think family vacations are fun!

I suppose we could arrange to send the kids to relatives (if they would agree -- it's asking a lot), but I would not feel comfortable leaving them in the care of anybody else for 1-2 weeks.

amother

Lime

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 3:27 am

We went away for one night for our 20th anniversary. Kids were old enough to stay home alone.

amother

Cappuccino

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 5:55 am

DH and I go away for 1 night twice a year, to recharge. Kids go to my in laws.
Otherwise we travel with the kids.

amother

Dimgray

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 6:17 am

amother OP wrote:

Your friend crowd goes away from their young kids annually an entire week?

I only know people who do this for a couple nights....and even then only a few.....I'm not in fancy crowds though.

I'll raise my hand that I did do this for my 20th anniversary, leaving my older daighters in charge.....but they live in the house with my littles, and everyone is extremely close.. otherwise thats a long time for little kids.
I hired people to help in the morning and afternoon and that's something you could do if grandparents come to help.
I know others who have done this as well once they are at the adult or almost adult children stage.

Still wouldn't do it annually.

theoneandonly

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 6:30 am

Another vote for traveling with kids. We never leave our kids behind.

amother

Glitter

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 7:17 am

amother Cappuccino wrote:

DH and I go away for 1 night twice a year, to recharge. Kids go to my in laws.
Otherwise we travel with the kids.

Samw

amother

Lotus

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 7:21 am

We went to Hawaii for our 10th anniversary. I paid my niece and her friend to move in and watch the kids for 8 days. In the past 5 years we have made sure to go away at least once a year and have either parents/parents in law take over the house for a week and or my daughter who is already 18 take over with a friend/cousin. I do leave a cc and give them option to order take out which they love and I also wrap a gift for each kid to open every night after they complete h.w./showers bedtime routine etc..we call every day to ensure all is well..
For us it is a priority and we come back recharged..

amother

Watermelon

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 7:27 am

I have only gone away for a week three times in 23 years. This is what I did.

1st time : Sister in-law watched my 18 month old and MIL had my 3 yr old. My 3 yr old was in playgroup at that time so he was out most of the day.

2nd time: Kids above age 5 went to various neighbors and friends from school. I made the arrangements according to their school schedule and where their school had bus transportation .
1 kid went to my SIL , and he had a classmate on the block so he took the bus from the boys house.
2nd kid stayed at my landlord who had a kid in my sons class
3rd kid stayed at my boss’s house because his kids went to the same school and knew my son , so again no issue with transportation and she offered to watch him, I didn’t have to ask.
4th kid went to his babysitter. She lived on the block and she had been caring for him daily since he was 6 weeks old. He slept over at her house.

The 3rd and last time I ever went away for a week, my kids were a bit older , and more independent. They could take care of themselves for the most part but still needed supervision and someone to meal prep for them and take care of Shabbos. My MIL moved into my house (I am forever grateful to her for that) so that DH and I could go away.

But that was 3 times in 23 years. It would not be possible to go away for a week yearly. DH does take annual trips abroad but he goes alone or with one child. If I need a break I take mini vacations throughout the year either alone or with DH and I do that if my mother is available to stay at my house for 2-3 days.

amother

Moonstone

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 7:51 am

Most people I know that do it have full time help that runs the house and they have either a family member or paid couple/ single girl to take care of the kids. I don’t have any of these options available and therefore go very seldom. When I do finally make it work,I fan my kids out to various family members but I can’t do it on yearly basis.

amother

Aconite

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 7:51 am

We only go for max 3 nights, & don't leave kids under 2.5-3. An infant I can take along. With a toddler I just don't go.

SuperWify

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 7:53 am

I don’t go longer then 2 nights about every 2 years. My in-laws watch them.

amother

Peachpuff

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 7:59 am

The last time we did this was when my oldest was a year old. My parents watched him. It was for three days, iirc, and he was/is very close with my parents who live near us.

It's been a decade and a half. The only "vacation" I've had without the kids was when I was in the hospital having another kid. I don't feel that it's right to dump the crew on my parents now that there are more than one of them.

We do family vacations, and even that is only once every few years for scheduling and budgetary reasons. We went away one other time to a non-frum family wedding where taking the kids would have been too complicated (and kids were not invited to the wedding...), but that was overnight and we hired an overnight babysitter.

That's it. This is not the time in our lives for couples vacations. This is the time for us to enjoy our time with our kids. One day when we're empty nesters (or only have a few older kids at home), we'll go away somewhere together.

I might feel differently if we had major SB issues. B"H we do not.

amother

Dimgray

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 8:04 am

amother Lotus wrote:

How old was your dd when you started this every year?
I think that makes all the difference.

amother

Red

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 8:21 am

I would love love love to go away for even a night. Sadly I don’t have any way to make that happen. We haven’t been away alone for like 5 years. And we can really use it.. oh well.

amother

Brass

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 8:28 am

amother Lotus wrote:

I love this! This is such a nice way of doing it.

amother

Sand

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 8:35 am

Currently, either we go away as a family (which we do as often as we can, but it is NOT a vacation for either one of us) or one of us goes away to clear their head while the other holds down the fort. My parents are no longer with us, my siblings are not up to having a family of my size, my siblings in law depend on their siblings, so I don’t have anyone to leave my kids with. My oldest is married, but my next one is getting up there and hopefully soon she will be able to watch my kids for a few days so we can go away together.

Page 1 of 5

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next Last >>