Holiday with an active/curious 1 year-old - good idea?
Discussion
We need a holiday.
But we have a rather active, curious and persistent little boy who understands the word 'no' perfectly and ignores it very well. Particularly when being told not to open that cupboard, nor that cupboard either, no not the washing machine either. Or being told not to bang object x (usually hard) against object y (usually fragile, such as a TV), not to put that object in his mouth...no really, we mean it this time. No, you can't do it this time either. No, you can't put that in your mouth either. No, leave the TV alone.
(repeat until you give up trying to do whatever you were doing and give him 100% attention, at which point he's fine if a bit like the Duracell bunny...)
It's enough to be a fair bit of emotional and physical work (usually in shifts) for either one of us at our fairly clean and fairly child-proofed home - we're a little worried about some unknown-quality and probably un-childproofed villa/apartment/hotel room, probably in Spain/similar to keep the horror of flights* short.
So, to those who've had kids like this and lived through it:-
- What did you do for holidays?
- What can you recommend we do / avoid as a result?
- Seen another thread mention Mark Warner - any good/bad/indifferent experiences, any alternatives?
We would rather do on a small-ish budget as money's tight - Becs is doing 3 days a week and nursery fees eat into a chunk of that... MAY be able to get the Mother-in-Law to join us (probably our expense), but that's not guaranteed...quite likely to be just the two of us.
Thanks,
Martin.
* Thought about driving to France, but he kicked-off big style after <4hrs in the car on a particularly awful journey to my folks in Kent. So probably not just yet... Had a pretty decent break back when he was 4mths old and not particularly mobile, think now will bizarrely be even more work...
But we have a rather active, curious and persistent little boy who understands the word 'no' perfectly and ignores it very well. Particularly when being told not to open that cupboard, nor that cupboard either, no not the washing machine either. Or being told not to bang object x (usually hard) against object y (usually fragile, such as a TV), not to put that object in his mouth...no really, we mean it this time. No, you can't do it this time either. No, you can't put that in your mouth either. No, leave the TV alone.
(repeat until you give up trying to do whatever you were doing and give him 100% attention, at which point he's fine if a bit like the Duracell bunny...)
It's enough to be a fair bit of emotional and physical work (usually in shifts) for either one of us at our fairly clean and fairly child-proofed home - we're a little worried about some unknown-quality and probably un-childproofed villa/apartment/hotel room, probably in Spain/similar to keep the horror of flights* short.
So, to those who've had kids like this and lived through it:-
- What did you do for holidays?
- What can you recommend we do / avoid as a result?
- Seen another thread mention Mark Warner - any good/bad/indifferent experiences, any alternatives?
We would rather do on a small-ish budget as money's tight - Becs is doing 3 days a week and nursery fees eat into a chunk of that... MAY be able to get the Mother-in-Law to join us (probably our expense), but that's not guaranteed...quite likely to be just the two of us.
Thanks,
Martin.
* Thought about driving to France, but he kicked-off big style after <4hrs in the car on a particularly awful journey to my folks in Kent. So probably not just yet... Had a pretty decent break back when he was 4mths old and not particularly mobile, think now will bizarrely be even more work...
JimPetrol said:
I'd avoid flying as he sounds like the kind of kid who'll really, really wind up every other passenger on the flight.
Not if we keep him entertained...but it'll be a full-time job for us, hence the need for a short flight. He was as good as gold on the flights last November...Anything more constructive to add, or do you just like trying to wind people up???
We've taken young children abroad for many years. Our son has the permanent jitters and cannot keep still but it's relatively easy to keep him entertained on a flight to Spain.
We always book villas and it's a simple task to re-arrange the place to put fragile stuff away or out of reach. Our kids had a whale of a time playing in a cupboard under the bathroom sink with 3 doors.
If it's an issue, bok through Villarenters.co.uk as they offer a £25 insurance premium instead of a breakage deposit should anything go terribly wrong.
Enjoy it, they are only young once. Take a small hand luggage bag filled with toys/comfort blanket/iPad on the plane to keep them entertained. You'll find that so much is new to them that the flight flies by (see what I did there). For god's sake, don't sit at home and miss out. Just don't forget to take plenty of sun cream and a small pushchair stroller which is invaluable for when they sleep - just chuck a beach towel over the top to shade them.
We always book villas and it's a simple task to re-arrange the place to put fragile stuff away or out of reach. Our kids had a whale of a time playing in a cupboard under the bathroom sink with 3 doors.
If it's an issue, bok through Villarenters.co.uk as they offer a £25 insurance premium instead of a breakage deposit should anything go terribly wrong.
Enjoy it, they are only young once. Take a small hand luggage bag filled with toys/comfort blanket/iPad on the plane to keep them entertained. You'll find that so much is new to them that the flight flies by (see what I did there). For god's sake, don't sit at home and miss out. Just don't forget to take plenty of sun cream and a small pushchair stroller which is invaluable for when they sleep - just chuck a beach towel over the top to shade them.
We're looking at our first holiday with our (currently) 13 month old in Sept/Oct and Mark Warner is appealing due to the evening childcare being included. It is a bit of a pricier holiday, but I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking its worth it given what you get included.
I shall be watching this thread with I interest to see what people say - evening childcare is currently my main need (other than sun and no work).
I shall be watching this thread with I interest to see what people say - evening childcare is currently my main need (other than sun and no work).
Keep an eye on Mr E's thread too - same situation...
Mark Warner is pushing the budget, esp. now Becs has asked the MiL to join us (will be our expense...but if we're getting babysitting/spare pair of hands that's not unfair)...and they've only got a few resorts. Would be interested if anyone else does something similar, even if on a smaller scale...
havoc said:
Keep an eye on Mr E's thread too - same situation...
Mark Warner is pushing the budget, esp. now Becs has asked the MiL to join us (will be our expense...but if we're getting babysitting/spare pair of hands that's not unfair)...and they've only got a few resorts. Would be interested if anyone else does something similar, even if on a smaller scale...
The other options are Neilson (have been previously both snow and sun without kid and can thoroughly recommend) or Thomson Sensatori.
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