Essential Baby blogger Amity Dry
Holidaying with kids. Frankly, someone needs to come up with a better name for it. Because when I think of holidays I think of relaxing, indulgence, lazy days, sipping cocktails by the pool, leisurely shopping, long lunches and late nights out. And holidaying with kids is NONE of those things. It’s fun, but a holiday it is not.
It begins with the packing. When holidaying with kids, no matter how long you are going away for, it is essential to pack enough stuff to last you about a year. Nappies, wipes, snacks, drink bottles, monitors, portacorts, prams, teddies, dummies, blankies, colouring in things, favourite toys, favourite food, DVDs, Panadol, thermometer, bandaids…You basically need to transport your entire house with you, lest you forget anything crucial and the loss of it ruins everybody’s time. So far, not that relaxing.
Then there is the travelling. This time my desperation to get to the barmy shores of North QLD meant we had to brave a 4.30am rising, two flights and a three hour stop over in between. Airlie beach, you had better deliver.
All I can say about flying with kids is, iPod and iPad I owe you my life. My various technological toys kept both children amused throughout a long day in transit. I downloaded a few episodes of my son’s favourite shows and that kept him entertained. And my 19 month old is so obsessed with the Apple devices she can happily flick through them for hours. So my only problem came when it was time to turn them off. After having been the perfect passenger for the whole flight on landing Poppy started to thrash around, screaming incessantly. The lady in front leant over and said understanding ‘Poor thing, are her ears hurting?’ ‘No’ I replied, slightly embarrassed. ‘I had to turn the iPad off.’
But, whether or not Poppy’s iPad obsession has good or bad ramifications in the long term, at the time I owed it a debt of gratitude. Especially when I discovered there were no hire strollers at Brisbane airport, so I had no way of getting her to sleep in between flights. Hello again iPad, my entertaining friend.
So finally, finally, we arrived at our destination. And I’m not receiving any kick back from this but can thoroughly recommend the Big 4 Adventure Resort in Airlie beach. A huge pool with waterslides, jumping pillow, playground, tennis, basketball, mini golf, hire carts, outdoor movies, kids club, organised activities and huge house like cabins, it was kid heaven. There was so much for kids to do and the staff could not have been friendlier. So if my kids were older and could have roamed around unsupervised I actually would have had the holiday of my dreams. Alas, Jamison didn’t want to stay in the kids club (oh how I tried) and Poppy is, well, 19 months. So mummy on the waterslide it is!
So, while there wasn’t much relaxing to be had, seeing them have the time of their lives was wonderful. Turning off my computer, switching off my mind (and hiding the iPad) meant I could engage with them in a way you just don’t when you’re madly running your day to day life. They had my undivided attention and they thrived in it.
But of course the need to be a nagging parent can never take a holiday. The constant sunscreen application, reminders to put hats on, stay in the shade, drink some water, put your earplugs in (grommets) don’t dive in the shallow end, don’t annoy your sister, don’t spill your drink, don’t yell in a café, let’s change your nappy, let’s get you lunch, it’s time for sleep, go to sleep, sleep time now, GO TO SLEEP!!!
After about day 6 I was ready for another holiday. Alone. I loved all that quality time, but there was no escaping it. Every shower, they're there with me. Sleeping at night, there were legs in my stomach and hot breathe in my face. When I told a single friend of mine we were going on a holiday she joked we might actually have time to have sex. Ha! With sleep routines interrupted, excitement leading to late nights and the musical beds reaching a concerto, there was even LESS chance of that than normal!
Interestingly, a new study from the University of Ballarat found that for many family holidays are more stressful than work, with 20% of participants finding their stress levels actually increased on holiday. I'm guessing you won't find that printed on any travel brochures!
So after a sun drenched week of postcard moments and memories made, we packed up our years worth of stuff and headed home. But before we could get there we had another two flights and three hours in between, meaning we left at midday and got home at 11pm. During which time Poppy didn’t sleep for a moment. Not. One. Moment. Just when I thought I had reached the point of losing my mind, 2.5 hours into a stopover with no stroller, I discovered a leaky nappy. With no change of clothes. Are we having fun yet????
Holidays with kids. They are the stuff memories are made of, they bond families, create happy contented kids and tired but contented parents. They are worth the effort. But they are no holiday.
How have you found holidaying with your kids? Go to Amity's Blog.
Amity Dry is a writer, composer, singer and mum of two. She blogs for Essential Baby and is the writer and composer of ‘Mother, Wife and the Complicated Life,’ a new musical that takes a raw and honest look at marriage and motherhood. Follow Amity on Twitter.
