On holiday with your teenager

In my opinion, holidays with kids when they are still very young are not real holidays. As I once came across online: "You're just moving the caring and nurturing to another place." With some extra hassle, as I wrote in my blog about the first holidays with children.

Now that my kids are a bit older, each year it starts to look more and more like a holiday like I always enjoyed so much. Okay, we're not heading to the local bar dancing yet, but we're getting pretty close.

Dining out with kids during the holiday

It's finally fun to go out for dinner now. The youngest still only eats pizza, so it's always a bit of a search to find where they serve that. But now we can enjoy dining together every day and talk about all sorts of things. Without needing to keep them occupied with iPads and toys. Or taking turns walking the stroller along the boulevard.

Sleeping in

Sleeping in is still not happening, but I'm not really a fan of that. And besides, with a beach and pool nearby, I find it a waste! And I'm not the only one, because even the eldest doesn't laze around and jumps out of bed as soon as he hears someone waking up.

Poolside drinks

A colorful cocktail by the pool is definitely part of the holiday for me. I really couldn't imagine that when they were so little. No time for it, and you have to be extra cautious with all that water around when they don't have their swimming diploma yet.

Carefree family holiday?

It will never be completely carefree, of course, because when they're playing in super wild waves, I can't relax at all! And the fact that they dare to go on those towering slides and jump off the highest rocks... Very scary! Defenitely will not get any sleep when, in a few years, they go out until early in the morning. If they look like their parents. ;-)

I say to all the mothers I see struggling with strollers on the beach, diapers on the plane, and crying kids in the restaurant: "Every holiday gets a little better." And it does. Even before you arrive at the hotel, it's already more relaxed. At some point, they pack their own clothes, eagerly decide which tennis set to bring, and even help roll the suitcases!