Surviving caravan holidays with kids
- Thread starter LizziePope
- Start date
Parksy
Moderator
We took my five year old granddaughter away from her mom and dad last weekend for her very first weekend away in the caravan with us, so Motty's advice has arrived just in time for me.
Five year olds are inquisitive, full of energy from the minute they open their eyes in the morning and old grandparents can soon become exhausted. :blink:
I'm not sure if the link to Google Photos will work now that Photobucket isn't an option, but I'll give it a try.
The child friendly site that we chose wasn't too far from home and my granddaughter enjoyed the childrens play area which cost nothing extra.
I must remember Motty's board game tip, it's got to be less energy sapping than running (or hobbling in my case) around playing hide and seek after teatime after a full day's grandkid entertaining.
I'm happy to reposrt that after two bed time stories interspersed by a sip or three of Rioja from me to lubricate the imagination the little 'un was fast asleep within minutes of bed time, and we were very soon tucked up asleep after..
My granddaughter really enjoyed her very first caravan trip, the first of many.
I have to have a look in the loft first though, I'm sure that the Ludo is up there somewhere .......
Five year olds are inquisitive, full of energy from the minute they open their eyes in the morning and old grandparents can soon become exhausted. :blink:
I'm not sure if the link to Google Photos will work now that Photobucket isn't an option, but I'll give it a try.
The child friendly site that we chose wasn't too far from home and my granddaughter enjoyed the childrens play area which cost nothing extra.
I must remember Motty's board game tip, it's got to be less energy sapping than running (or hobbling in my case) around playing hide and seek after teatime after a full day's grandkid entertaining.
I'm happy to reposrt that after two bed time stories interspersed by a sip or three of Rioja from me to lubricate the imagination the little 'un was fast asleep within minutes of bed time, and we were very soon tucked up asleep after..
My granddaughter really enjoyed her very first caravan trip, the first of many.
I have to have a look in the loft first though, I'm sure that the Ludo is up there somewhere .......
Link worked Parksy.
Lovely cute girl, only 5 years old? Could run a 10K I reckon :lol:
No slight friend, but we simply cannot keep up with youth, but we can enjoy the wonder and happiness they bring us, worth the aching limbs eh!
Lovely cute girl, only 5 years old? Could run a 10K I reckon :lol:
No slight friend, but we simply cannot keep up with youth, but we can enjoy the wonder and happiness they bring us, worth the aching limbs eh!
Parksy
Moderator
Interesting take on things in the article, however..
We are late life parents, my daughter is my only child and arrived when I was 47. 11 years on and it's like a second childhood for me and my wife. Maybe being older we look at things differently to younger parents who always seem to be on a timetable to do everything at warp speed, mostly due to not thinking things through or planning ahead.
After 9 years of a MH, we changed to a caravan. Our daughter has also been fortunate to have flown long haul a lot from the US to New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. In the MH to Poland and around europe.
We have always spent time explaining to our daughter months in advance of long trips, where we are going, what we will likely do and see. Having Merlin Annual Passes are a benefit (available at a sensible price on offer in January) as there are so many places you can visit whilst on a caravan trip. The beauty is it doesn't matter if you arrive late and leave early on a full weekend or week or two as you are not paying a daily entry fee. One of our favourite CL's is near Alton Towers.
We play 'yellow car' on journeys to sites. Spot tower cranes, trains etc.
Days out be it hiking to a beach, through woods etc make for energy sapping fun.
Meal times in the caravan are a family effort.
Board games, colouring books including adult ones are fun for all the family.
Taking a friend of our daughter on weekend trips gives new insights too, and company for our daughter of her own age. Caravan sites are great places for kids to enhance social skills and make new friends. Plus lots of fresh air and exercise. Wonderful life education for them.
We are late life parents, my daughter is my only child and arrived when I was 47. 11 years on and it's like a second childhood for me and my wife. Maybe being older we look at things differently to younger parents who always seem to be on a timetable to do everything at warp speed, mostly due to not thinking things through or planning ahead.
After 9 years of a MH, we changed to a caravan. Our daughter has also been fortunate to have flown long haul a lot from the US to New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. In the MH to Poland and around europe.
We have always spent time explaining to our daughter months in advance of long trips, where we are going, what we will likely do and see. Having Merlin Annual Passes are a benefit (available at a sensible price on offer in January) as there are so many places you can visit whilst on a caravan trip. The beauty is it doesn't matter if you arrive late and leave early on a full weekend or week or two as you are not paying a daily entry fee. One of our favourite CL's is near Alton Towers.
We play 'yellow car' on journeys to sites. Spot tower cranes, trains etc.
Days out be it hiking to a beach, through woods etc make for energy sapping fun.
Meal times in the caravan are a family effort.
Board games, colouring books including adult ones are fun for all the family.
Taking a friend of our daughter on weekend trips gives new insights too, and company for our daughter of her own age. Caravan sites are great places for kids to enhance social skills and make new friends. Plus lots of fresh air and exercise. Wonderful life education for them.
We've got two teenagers, 13 and 15, who seem to want to mope about the caravan all day looking glum and getting in the way. Any tips besides leaving them at home?
For a start we have always done fairly long journeys, we have never had the need for gizmos to keep the children happy. We tend to have given them a break every two hours or so. We'd be stopping anyway for the dowgs so may as well let the sproglets stretch their legs too. We have always played the games that we played as children to keep them amused. The best is "keep watching the caravan quietly and only speak to tell us if it falls off."
On holiday we have always had lots of board games for evenings and really wet days. The dogs need walking so we have for a long time now combined that with geocaching to add a bit more to it than walking the dogs. We've always had a good array of outdoor games to play where there is room to. They haven't been left to themselves to run riot, we have always joined in.
Unamused children is purely down to unprepared parenting, or parenting that involves not joining in.
We are normally on CL's and CS's most of which do not have a dedicated playground but often on arrival we've been told where the children can play such as an enclosed paddock.
We have always looked on our holidays as a family affair not a time to be sat with your head in a gadget. Until the last 4 years we rarely had a hook up so told the children they couldn't charge anything when we were away as we didn't have enough electricity.
Looking after children of any age, on any caravan holiday and any length of journey is easy if you work together as a family to enjoy yourselves and have fun.
On holiday we have always had lots of board games for evenings and really wet days. The dogs need walking so we have for a long time now combined that with geocaching to add a bit more to it than walking the dogs. We've always had a good array of outdoor games to play where there is room to. They haven't been left to themselves to run riot, we have always joined in.
Unamused children is purely down to unprepared parenting, or parenting that involves not joining in.
We are normally on CL's and CS's most of which do not have a dedicated playground but often on arrival we've been told where the children can play such as an enclosed paddock.
We have always looked on our holidays as a family affair not a time to be sat with your head in a gadget. Until the last 4 years we rarely had a hook up so told the children they couldn't charge anything when we were away as we didn't have enough electricity.
Looking after children of any age, on any caravan holiday and any length of journey is easy if you work together as a family to enjoy yourselves and have fun.
WE used to play various games with our daughters on the journeys with the caravan. Car bingo using a bingo card and me calling out the first two numbers of car registrations as they passed worked well but the change in the numbering system has stopped that one.
We did have a pack of cards with various pictures of things you might see like a coach or church and they each got six and had to spot them. I have not seen this for some time but that did work if they still turn up.
I spy and first to spot are good though but I an afraid a games consul seems to be the answer for many these days.
We did have a pack of cards with various pictures of things you might see like a coach or church and they each got six and had to spot them. I have not seen this for some time but that did work if they still turn up.
I spy and first to spot are good though but I an afraid a games consul seems to be the answer for many these days.
It's a great fun to going on caravan with children. Caravan holidays are perfect for families. Caravan parks are brilliant places to stay with family. I would suggest you take the time to make a list of kids accessories check the items below off of your packing list kids like clothes, medicine, shoes, bags, baby wipes, football and other accessories related with kids. These are things I would really recommend you remember to take with you by using coupons from (External Link Removed) you can easily buy these things on a small budget.
Moderator Note: User banned from site. Link was to a U.S website. Saraluck, your luck just ran out !/color]
Moderator Note: User banned from site. Link was to a U.S website. Saraluck, your luck just ran out !/color]
I think it is good being a late parent in a lot of ways, I've just been invited to my life long friends 70th birthday and although he does not look it and still mamages 45 minutes playing football, he produced a very nice baby girl with his partner who is 39 last year.
I think sometimes people forget that children have their own views and likes/dislikes (thank goodness!) and unfortunately, they don't always correspond with their parents. We have owned a caravan when the children were young - we have always played with them and done simple things as a family but my eldest has just never "done" caravanning. In fact he once wrote a letter to us (about aged 8) to say please could he stay at home at weekends to join the local football team.....It did take some of the pleasure out of the trips and he had an opinion I just didn't get!!! That prompted us selling our caravan and later on, now he is old enough to stay at home, we have returned to a caravan lifestyle. We still absolutely love our foreign holiday once a year - playing in rock pools, eating out, building sandcastle, visiting attractions etc......why not in a caravan in this country I hear you cry??? I have asked myself the same question many times but he just didn't DO caravans......
It's easy,find a site that has something for everyone,best of all,if you have room get em to bring a friend along.Mine are nearly 13 and 15,next summer we plan a trip to the dordogne as I think it's the last holiday with the eldest.For our main 2wk summer break we go to big all singing sites as I can get out on bike for a few hours,kids will play in pool a couple of times a day,and the wife can read a book,all happy.Happy kids makes happy parents,there's loads of time for peaceful cl sites for us in future.
We got a new set of double 9 dominoes for last trip,never seen kids so excited,we used to play trivial pursuit on iPad,but not available anymore.
We got a new set of double 9 dominoes for last trip,never seen kids so excited,we used to play trivial pursuit on iPad,but not available anymore.
Buy Dobble and pitch yourselves well away from anyone likely to get grumpy as it gets out of hand. Very simple game for all ages to play competitively together. All comes in a tin about the size of a small tin of tuna!
If you want to attract potential play-mates for the kids, invest in a tube of bubbles. We used to do this when the kids were younger. Once you've unpacked, blow a few bubbles and you'll have kids of every nation chasing them about and suddenly they've got a new best mate.
Apart from that, remember it's their holiday too, not just yours.
If you want to attract potential play-mates for the kids, invest in a tube of bubbles. We used to do this when the kids were younger. Once you've unpacked, blow a few bubbles and you'll have kids of every nation chasing them about and suddenly they've got a new best mate.
Apart from that, remember it's their holiday too, not just yours.
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