kid free vacation and guilt

[Heyteacher]

Hubby and I go away for a 4 day weekend once a year. Last year we went to Disney by ourselves. The boys were PISSED, but we had a blast~Disney without kids is amazing~

I also take a 4 day weekend completely by myself twice a year. Hubby stays home with the boys and I take the camper out to the lake. It’s even more amazing than Disney without kids.

[Slimshandy]

Not really…


We’ve done single nights away… but not an actual vacation.

[WellPreserved]

Hubby and I go away for a 4 day weekend once a year. Last year we went to Disney by ourselves. The boys were PISSED, but we had a blast~Disney without kids is amazing~

I also take a 4 day weekend completely by myself twice a year. Hubby stays home with the boys and I take the camper out to the lake. It’s even more amazing than Disney without kids.

I haven't taken a vacation alone since I was single with no kids! A camper at the lake sounds like bliss.

[Pjmm]

I have. Mostly the kids were with their dad at the time so I didn't feel guilty.

[PrincessLaLa]

We have a lot of family abroad as well, so our bigger/longer vacations are usually spent visiting those countries. My kids are pretty good at traveling, but traveling for 4 is certainly more costly than traveling for 2, and our main issue is trying to work around their school breaks. If there were 8 of us the financial aspect would certainly be a bigger issue!

We have six kids, 3-13, and take long weekend trips without the kids multiple times a year. It’s usually to go on trips with friends and our schedules during those trips just aren’t kid friendly, plus we don’t want our friends to have to spend their trip having to think about what they say in front of the kids. We also usually do a couple of long weekend trips with just my husband and I.

We have had a good handful of longer trips with just us over the years as well. My extended family mostly live abroad so we usually spend about a month traveling in the summer (we took a few years off during covid). We usually spend a few days in France at one of my grandparents homes, then we sometimes take the kids for a few days in another country before heading to Japan for two weeks. My parents meet us in Japan and usually we spend a week there together and then my husband and I will go travel somewhere else for five days and the kids stay with my parents at my relatives.

We honestly don’t mind traveling with the kids and we take plenty of family trips. Our kids all enjoy museums, historic sites, hikes, etc because they are used to them, so it’s not like we can’t enjoy ourselves when we take family trips. But traveling with six other people is expensive and not all of our trips involve things the kids would be able to do and enjoy, so I’ve never felt guilty about it. My parents went on trips growing up and I remember missing them when I was young, but not being angry with them.

[PrincessLaLa]

My children's only grandparents live in another country so they wouldn't have anyone here to spoil them. They'd probably enjoy getting to eat junk meals while we were away though. lol

I’ve never done out of the country, but dh and I have taken several just us trips, usually for a long weekend. My kids never minded bc grandma spoils the heck out of them so it’s like a vacation for them too lol. We would also video call them daily too which I think helped.

[PrincessLaLa]

I'll definitely talk with them about it before I make any decisions, they just aren't very emotionally mature. The older one is too much of a people pleaser and the younger one is just completely unpredictable. I'm not sure how much either is capable of predicting their feelings about a situation.

If you know it’s somewhere they would want to go, and have, I wouldn’t do it. Otherwise ask them how they would feel, they may be more then happy to stay behind.

[PrincessLaLa]

That's one of the arguments my brain is making. The other part is telling me that I shouldn't put my life on hold until they're grown or out of school. I'm not getting any younger!

No we don't. I do feel guilty and wish I didn't. We only have 2 left at home and they are just so well behaved and really enjoy the trips together (16 & 14). And I also know that in a blink of an eye they will be grown and gone too like my 2 older ones who are out of the house and living on their own. So I only have a precious few years left.

[PrincessLaLa]

I was just having a discussion with a lady I met recently about solo vacations. I don't think I would enjoy them. I wish I could! She goes globetrotting all alone and I can't see myself ever doing that but maybe I could try something smaller scale.

Hubby and I go away for a 4 day weekend once a year. Last year we went to Disney by ourselves. The boys were PISSED, but we had a blast~Disney without kids is amazing~

I also take a 4 day weekend completely by myself twice a year. Hubby stays home with the boys and I take the camper out to the lake. It’s even more amazing than Disney without kids.

[Olioxenfree]

You have plenty of years of quality time left, one week away isn’t going to make a difference. If there’s a benefit to going without them, like you could benefit from the alone time with your significant other or there are activities that they wouldn’t be interested in or could do or it would be too expensive to bring everyone, just go. They have their whole lives to go visit that country themselves.

That's one of the arguments my brain is making. The other part is telling me that I shouldn't put my life on hold until they're grown or out of school. I'm not getting any younger!

No we don't. I do feel guilty and wish I didn't. We only have 2 left at home and they are just so well behaved and really enjoy the trips together (16 & 14). And I also know that in a blink of an eye they will be grown and gone too like my 2 older ones who are out of the house and living on their own. So I only have a precious few years left.