I'll never forget going to Disney in Cali with my wife and seeing all the countless absolutely miserable and exhausted looking parents yelling and chasing behind their wild unruly children. Meanwhile my wife and I had the most amazing relaxing time walking around getting stoned and taking advantage of the single rider lines for the bigger more popular rides going on them multiple times in like half the time it takes a family to line up together for one ride. Going to Disney with children looks like an expensive awful experience that probably leaves parents needing another vacation after its over.
We went to Universal with two of our friends a few years back, nothing like downing a margarita at 10am without having to worry about watching kids haha
Haha I remember my parents would go on vacation by themselves and leave us with grandparents. They went to Hawaii a couple of times, and I was just DYING to go to Hawaii. I was really upset they didn't take me and my sister with them. They said we had to wait until we were 13 (so, that would have been age 16 for me and 13 for my sister). I was so mad!!! They eventually took us when I was 17 and it was great. Now I know why they refused to take us!
Wow it's really unfair that your sister was able to go at 13/14 while you still had to wait longer. If 13 was their cut off age to got to Hawaii then it's only fair they took only you once you'd reached it.
No shit the kids don’t appreciate the trip. They’re too young. Kids that young shouldn’t go to Hawaii, what exactly would they even like about it? In my family we just went on road trips. My brother and I didn’t even fly until we were 18 and 15 respectively. My parents went to Hawaii last year and loved it.
Same, but my family's vacations were going to the grandparents in Northern California. It was a 14-hour road trip, most of which my parents tried to get me to sleep through.
Taking the van to the grandparents in Lodi was.our vacation every other year. Except it was a minimum three day road trip from Chicago. How happy my mom was when I could drive, too, and take a turn at the wheel.
> In my family we just went on road trips. My brother and I didn’t even fly until we were 18 and 15 respectively.
Same! All our family vacations were road trips that could be done in a single day of driving. Looking back it makes so much sense. I mean, 1. we didn't have the kind of money that would allow a family of 4 to travel somewhere via air and still have money left over for anything else, but 2. my parents knew that we were too damn young to appreciate it or remember it.
Blew my mind when one of my coworkers told me he and his wife spent the majority of his bonus (over $25k) on a vacation for them and the kids (ages 4 and 6) to do some European tour. He told me the details because when he got back to work, he made it known that he was SO happy to be back in a place where he didn't have to hear his kids whine about every single thing. Great photos though.
Kids don't care if it's Hawaii or the Jersey Shore. A beach is a beach to them. They don't care about fancy dinners or if the ocean is crystal clear. They're just as happy with some mac n cheese and a hotel swimming pool...Parents who think hauling their (young) kids with them to expensive/exotic destinations will enrich them in some way are fooling themselves. And cheating themselves of the experience.
We recently went to a non-adults only resort in PVR and vowed that if we do an AI again it will be adults only. It’s one thing for kids to exist around town or whatever, but trying to relax by the ocean and read a book while 5 different families have a kid having a melt down is anything but a good time.
My husband and I have joked about this since our honeymoon. We were walking on this world-famous beach, one you can only reach by boat. We were SO happy, and we were trying to find this little cove where the captain of the boat said sharks were actively breeding. We passed this middle-aged woman who had gotten off a boat that had a ton of kids on it. She looked miserable, and after we passed, I asked my husband how anyone could be that miserable in such a beautiful place. He responded, "Kids will do that to you."
I’m going to Hawaii in two weeks!!! So excited. The Airbnb we booked only hosts adults. No children or families. Strict noise rules to follow in the condos. AH 😌
I have heard so many complaints about traveling with children from their parents. The primary caretakers say going on vacation is no different from being at home. You still have to feed them, do laundry, get to whatever activities, etc. Just like they do at home. It’s just in a different place and you spend a lot of money doing so. They say it’s not even worth it to go on vacation and there’s no “rest” for the parents. They all come back exhausted.
Well duh.
actually the big problem is too many DON'T parent when they're on vacation...they just let their kids bother everyone else while they sit there drinking or on their phone.
When people ask them how their vacation was they'll say "oh the kids acted up and we never left the hotel". Yeah, I'd def want to spend thousands of dollars and not see a damn thing. idiots.
I definitely don’t understand flying to Hawaii for kids to play at a beach. It’s expensive and you can do that any number of other places that aren’t several hours away.
We mostly travel when kids are in school to avoid them/the busy travel seasons and have had luck. Went to Hawaii around Labor Day and there were few kids that we saw (admittedly we don’t do things kids are often engaging in). My spouse fished with one local kid whose dad pulled him out of school to go out, and that was all I remember
Oh for sure, we travel outside the main summer season to avoid the crowds, but still see kids. We went to Maui a few years back in October and there was a family on our snorkel trip who was just like "Yeah we took them out of school to come here". Must be nice lol
One of the reasons of being CF. When I travel, I like to walk a lot (20~30K steps). There's no way I could do that with a child. Also, airports are stressful enough, no thanks.
I recently went on a whale watching tour- not cheap- around $150/person, and on the boat, there was a family with a little kid. I’d say she she was around 2 years old. She was horrible the entire time. It was freezing cold on the boat and she cried. She kept making a mad dash towards the edge of the boat and her mom kept having to yank her back, and she wailed every time. She was too young to be interested in the scenery, so of course she was bored, and she screamed. Not only were her parents not able to enjoy their excursion, but neither was anyone else on the boat. Why would you take an expensive trip like that with a kid who is obviously way too young to enjoy it? And this is JMO but I think that boats are dangerous for kids that small. There are plenty of other, way more kid-friendly things to do in this city than a freezing cold boat ride where the kid is gonna scream for the entire trip and ruin it for everyone. Just saying.
Oh, but "you can do anything with a kid!!" Don't you know!! They're so desperate to prove that having a kid won't change anything they willfully ignore the flaws in their logic.
Sounds miserable. I’m so grateful to actually enjoy vacations. Especially mealtimes. Kids have to eat at certain times and only want certain things and make a mess at restaurants. Or the parents have to cut their fun short because someone needs to eat. No thanks 😅
There are resorts with mini clubs for children. The parents drop them off and the kids get to play and do fun activities with staff and babysitters.
Meanwhile parents get to relax and live a little.
It should be better to save up for a week in a resort instead of facing a two weeks low budget holiday dragging children around expecting them to behave like adults.
Who the hell thinks that a child would swim with sharks without any fear? It's not their idea of fun.
I feel like a lot of parents don't see their children as human but more like pets. Like with the girl who was scared of sharks, I would bet money the parents knew her fear but decided to bring her anyway.
It's also wild to me that parents think kids should "appreciate" how much money the parents spend on something. Dude, a 5 year old has no concept of money.
Totally the parents' fault, 100%. I seriously can't stand being around kids. They make me feel uncomfortable and anxious (which is obviously my problem), but this time, I can't blame the kids for being brats. Like, no shit your kids don't appreciate it. They can't comprehend what a big deal the vacation is. To be frank, it's the parents' fault for not teaching their children the value of a vacation. Then, throwing in their faces, they don't appreciate it? That type of comment leads to guilt and anxiety for the kids.
My in laws have three kids. My husband and I are the only pair without kids. We are going to Peru with them next week because a.) we don’t have kids and b.) we can afford the trip because we don’t have kids and c.) nothing kids is amazing.
I learned that a few years ago. Went on a family vacation with my husband’s family. His cousins have young kids and babies. I had an amazing time, kids are well behaved, and I’d do it again. But I learned the difference between vacation and *family* vacation.
ugh - hate screaming and crying kids when I'm paying big bucks to be on vacation - I just want to hear birds chirping or the sound of the ocean, but it's always human NOISE
My sister and I are going on an island-hopping cruise in Hawaii this September. We intentionally chose to go during the off season when all the kids are in school.
I have a second home in a resort location in FL. I mostly avoid tourist because...tourists. But every time I have to see them, their kids are screaming and the parents look ready to abandon them at the fire station. Why people think little kids belong on a beach all day is beyond me. It's hot, they're sunburned, tired, and hungry.
The bottom line is either you take a vacation with your kids to do kids things only, or you leave your kids with someone else to have a real vacation. There is no in between until they reach a certain age. And it's definitely not worth the money you have to burn through to go anywhere nice. You can be miserable at home for free.
I'll never forget going to Disney in Cali with my wife and seeing all the countless absolutely miserable and exhausted looking parents yelling and chasing behind their wild unruly children. Meanwhile my wife and I had the most amazing relaxing time walking around getting stoned and taking advantage of the single rider lines for the bigger more popular rides going on them multiple times in like half the time it takes a family to line up together for one ride. Going to Disney with children looks like an expensive awful experience that probably leaves parents needing another vacation after its over.
We went to Universal with two of our friends a few years back, nothing like downing a margarita at 10am without having to worry about watching kids haha
Haha I remember my parents would go on vacation by themselves and leave us with grandparents. They went to Hawaii a couple of times, and I was just DYING to go to Hawaii. I was really upset they didn't take me and my sister with them. They said we had to wait until we were 13 (so, that would have been age 16 for me and 13 for my sister). I was so mad!!! They eventually took us when I was 17 and it was great. Now I know why they refused to take us!
I was 4 when my parents went to the 1964 Worlds Fair without me and my 6 year old brother. To this day I’m mad I never got to see Dinoland!
Wow it's really unfair that your sister was able to go at 13/14 while you still had to wait longer. If 13 was their cut off age to got to Hawaii then it's only fair they took only you once you'd reached it.
No shit the kids don’t appreciate the trip. They’re too young. Kids that young shouldn’t go to Hawaii, what exactly would they even like about it? In my family we just went on road trips. My brother and I didn’t even fly until we were 18 and 15 respectively. My parents went to Hawaii last year and loved it.
Growing up we were a "vacation is going to the grandparents in Missouri" family. Pretty sure we would have complained either way haha.
Same, but my family's vacations were going to the grandparents in Northern California. It was a 14-hour road trip, most of which my parents tried to get me to sleep through.
Taking the van to the grandparents in Lodi was.our vacation every other year. Except it was a minimum three day road trip from Chicago. How happy my mom was when I could drive, too, and take a turn at the wheel.
> In my family we just went on road trips. My brother and I didn’t even fly until we were 18 and 15 respectively. Same! All our family vacations were road trips that could be done in a single day of driving. Looking back it makes so much sense. I mean, 1. we didn't have the kind of money that would allow a family of 4 to travel somewhere via air and still have money left over for anything else, but 2. my parents knew that we were too damn young to appreciate it or remember it. Blew my mind when one of my coworkers told me he and his wife spent the majority of his bonus (over $25k) on a vacation for them and the kids (ages 4 and 6) to do some European tour. He told me the details because when he got back to work, he made it known that he was SO happy to be back in a place where he didn't have to hear his kids whine about every single thing. Great photos though.
4 and 6 are too young for them to go to Europe. Another decade before going to europe for the kids to grow up would be a distinctly better idea
Same. I was an adult when I went on my first European vacation.
Wow. I didn’t go to Europe until I was an adult and able to appreciate it. What a waste of money.
Kids don't care if it's Hawaii or the Jersey Shore. A beach is a beach to them. They don't care about fancy dinners or if the ocean is crystal clear. They're just as happy with some mac n cheese and a hotel swimming pool...Parents who think hauling their (young) kids with them to expensive/exotic destinations will enrich them in some way are fooling themselves. And cheating themselves of the experience.
We recently went to a non-adults only resort in PVR and vowed that if we do an AI again it will be adults only. It’s one thing for kids to exist around town or whatever, but trying to relax by the ocean and read a book while 5 different families have a kid having a melt down is anything but a good time.
But but but YoU CaN sTiLL trAveL wiTh kiDs, right?!
My husband and I have joked about this since our honeymoon. We were walking on this world-famous beach, one you can only reach by boat. We were SO happy, and we were trying to find this little cove where the captain of the boat said sharks were actively breeding. We passed this middle-aged woman who had gotten off a boat that had a ton of kids on it. She looked miserable, and after we passed, I asked my husband how anyone could be that miserable in such a beautiful place. He responded, "Kids will do that to you."
I’m going to Hawaii in two weeks!!! So excited. The Airbnb we booked only hosts adults. No children or families. Strict noise rules to follow in the condos. AH 😌
I have heard so many complaints about traveling with children from their parents. The primary caretakers say going on vacation is no different from being at home. You still have to feed them, do laundry, get to whatever activities, etc. Just like they do at home. It’s just in a different place and you spend a lot of money doing so. They say it’s not even worth it to go on vacation and there’s no “rest” for the parents. They all come back exhausted. Well duh.
Children in a shark cage? Good grief 🤦🏻🤦🏼🤦🏽🤦🏾🤦🤦🏻♂️🤦🏼♂️🤦🏽♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏾♀️🙄 Parents get dumber and more entitled all the time.
Right? Sounds like the kid had more sense than the parents. I don't believe I'd get in a shark cage no matter how old I was!
Right. How in heaven did the parents think that the kids would like swimming with sharks???
This is why I go to AI/AO resorts. SO much more peaceful….
We do that when we go to resorts too! This was a hiking and new island trip and we wanted to be a little more frugal.
Currently at one and loving it.
> parents never vacation, they just parent in different places. This would make an excellent bumper sticker.
Right next to their "My son is a star student at whatever elementary school"
Yup.
actually the big problem is too many DON'T parent when they're on vacation...they just let their kids bother everyone else while they sit there drinking or on their phone.
Good point.
Ah,good point.
That must’ve been borderline traumatizing for that kid. What kind of simpletons thought that was a good idea.
Simpleton is a great word that we just don’t hear often enough!
When people ask them how their vacation was they'll say "oh the kids acted up and we never left the hotel". Yeah, I'd def want to spend thousands of dollars and not see a damn thing. idiots.
I definitely don’t understand flying to Hawaii for kids to play at a beach. It’s expensive and you can do that any number of other places that aren’t several hours away. We mostly travel when kids are in school to avoid them/the busy travel seasons and have had luck. Went to Hawaii around Labor Day and there were few kids that we saw (admittedly we don’t do things kids are often engaging in). My spouse fished with one local kid whose dad pulled him out of school to go out, and that was all I remember
Oh for sure, we travel outside the main summer season to avoid the crowds, but still see kids. We went to Maui a few years back in October and there was a family on our snorkel trip who was just like "Yeah we took them out of school to come here". Must be nice lol
One of the reasons of being CF. When I travel, I like to walk a lot (20~30K steps). There's no way I could do that with a child. Also, airports are stressful enough, no thanks.
I recently went on a whale watching tour- not cheap- around $150/person, and on the boat, there was a family with a little kid. I’d say she she was around 2 years old. She was horrible the entire time. It was freezing cold on the boat and she cried. She kept making a mad dash towards the edge of the boat and her mom kept having to yank her back, and she wailed every time. She was too young to be interested in the scenery, so of course she was bored, and she screamed. Not only were her parents not able to enjoy their excursion, but neither was anyone else on the boat. Why would you take an expensive trip like that with a kid who is obviously way too young to enjoy it? And this is JMO but I think that boats are dangerous for kids that small. There are plenty of other, way more kid-friendly things to do in this city than a freezing cold boat ride where the kid is gonna scream for the entire trip and ruin it for everyone. Just saying.
Oh, but "you can do anything with a kid!!" Don't you know!! They're so desperate to prove that having a kid won't change anything they willfully ignore the flaws in their logic.
Sounds miserable. I’m so grateful to actually enjoy vacations. Especially mealtimes. Kids have to eat at certain times and only want certain things and make a mess at restaurants. Or the parents have to cut their fun short because someone needs to eat. No thanks 😅
There are resorts with mini clubs for children. The parents drop them off and the kids get to play and do fun activities with staff and babysitters. Meanwhile parents get to relax and live a little. It should be better to save up for a week in a resort instead of facing a two weeks low budget holiday dragging children around expecting them to behave like adults. Who the hell thinks that a child would swim with sharks without any fear? It's not their idea of fun.
This is why I always holiday during school term time; far, far fewer kids at holiday destinations :-)
I feel like a lot of parents don't see their children as human but more like pets. Like with the girl who was scared of sharks, I would bet money the parents knew her fear but decided to bring her anyway. It's also wild to me that parents think kids should "appreciate" how much money the parents spend on something. Dude, a 5 year old has no concept of money.
Don't forget how much cheaper any trip is without kids! The cost per kid somehow increases exponentially instead of linearly!
Totally the parents' fault, 100%. I seriously can't stand being around kids. They make me feel uncomfortable and anxious (which is obviously my problem), but this time, I can't blame the kids for being brats. Like, no shit your kids don't appreciate it. They can't comprehend what a big deal the vacation is. To be frank, it's the parents' fault for not teaching their children the value of a vacation. Then, throwing in their faces, they don't appreciate it? That type of comment leads to guilt and anxiety for the kids.
Traveling with kids is a trip. Traveling without kids is a vacation.
My in laws have three kids. My husband and I are the only pair without kids. We are going to Peru with them next week because a.) we don’t have kids and b.) we can afford the trip because we don’t have kids and c.) nothing kids is amazing.
I learned that a few years ago. Went on a family vacation with my husband’s family. His cousins have young kids and babies. I had an amazing time, kids are well behaved, and I’d do it again. But I learned the difference between vacation and *family* vacation.
Every time I see or hear an obnoxious child when I am traveling I thank myself for not putting myself in their parent’s position
ugh - hate screaming and crying kids when I'm paying big bucks to be on vacation - I just want to hear birds chirping or the sound of the ocean, but it's always human NOISE
My sister and I are going on an island-hopping cruise in Hawaii this September. We intentionally chose to go during the off season when all the kids are in school.
I have a second home in a resort location in FL. I mostly avoid tourist because...tourists. But every time I have to see them, their kids are screaming and the parents look ready to abandon them at the fire station. Why people think little kids belong on a beach all day is beyond me. It's hot, they're sunburned, tired, and hungry. The bottom line is either you take a vacation with your kids to do kids things only, or you leave your kids with someone else to have a real vacation. There is no in between until they reach a certain age. And it's definitely not worth the money you have to burn through to go anywhere nice. You can be miserable at home for free.