(Even if someone cries before breakfast)
Let’s be honest: holidays with kids aren’t exactly relaxing. They’re messy, noisy, unpredictable – and there’s a decent chance you’ll return home more tired than when you left.
But somehow, they’re also completely worth it.
Because family holidays – the real, honest kind, not the picture-perfect social media ones – are where the good stuff happens. They’re where you build the kind of memories your kids will carry with them long after the inflatable flamingo has deflated and the sun cream’s run out.
Here’s why they matter more than we probably realise.
They pull you out of the grind
Most of us spend our lives juggling a million things – work, school runs, laundry, meal plans, trying to reply to that one WhatsApp message from three days ago. A family holiday presses pause on all of that. No packed lunches. No uniforms. No meetings. Just time. Real, uninterrupted time together.
Even if it’s chaotic. Even if someone forgets their shoes.
Kids get the best version of you
There’s something about being away that softens everyone a bit. Maybe it’s the sun, maybe it’s the sea air, maybe it’s the fact no one’s thinking about what’s for dinner (because someone else is cooking it). Either way, your kids get to see you more relaxed, more present – and that matters. A lot.
You make the kind of memories that stick
You might not remember what day you flew out or how long the transfer took, but you will remember your child’s first ice cream in the sun. Or that slightly dodgy karaoke night where everyone ended up dancing. It’s those little moments – the imperfect, unplanned ones – that end up becoming the stories you tell for years.
You laugh more (usually after the fact)
At the time, the suitcase falling off the trolley or the toddler weeing in the sea again might feel like a nightmare. But give it a day or two and suddenly it’s hilarious. Holidays are full of these moments – the kind that make you laugh until your sides hurt when you’re back at home, scrolling through the photos.
You come home different
Not completely transformed, obviously. The laundry still needs doing and the fridge is still empty. But something shifts. You’ve had time together. You’ve reconnected. You’ve remembered what you all like about each other when life isn’t getting in the way. That feeling sticks around longer than the tan.
So yeah, holidays with kids aren’t always smooth. There’ll be tears (yours and theirs), spilt drinks, and probably a forgotten toothbrush. But there’ll also be belly laughs, late-night chats, and the kind of memories you can’t put a price on.
That’s why they matter.
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