Specialist travel company Oliver’s Travels has conducted a study that highlights how difficult it is for parents to cope with children when they’re on holiday – and they have created a survival guide for holidays with toddlers.
The travel company asked over 1,500 parents about their holiday experiences with their children and the results from the survey were quite surprising;
- Over 30% of parents with toddlers regret going away at all
- Over 50% of parents said had they had not been warned adequately before booking how difficult holidays with toddlers could be
- Over 25% of parents have lied to friends and family about how they enjoyed their family holiday
- Over 20% of parents say they will not bother again until their children ar older
As a result, Oliver’s Travels has teamed up with best-selling Parenting author and mother of four, Sarah Ockwell Smith to create The 10-step survival guide for holidays with toddlers,” a must-read for all fairly new parents.
Should it be a rite of passage to endure holiday hell with a toddler who is out of their comfort zone, or does the holiday industry have a duty to inform and educate parents to what they might suffer – often at the cost of thousands of pounds?
Holidays are expensive; they are the time when memories should be made. However, it seems over 30% of holidaying parents with children under four actually regret their decision to travel, as tantrums and toddler drama can simply be too.
Luckily though, you’re not alone. Over 80% of respondents said they encountered other parents on holiday suffering the same toddler-related stresses. The old idiom “misery loves company” might be true after all!
50% of parents said that if they had been given a bit of hindsight or had been warned by friends, family or their travel agent the decision would have been made to buy a far cheaper holiday.
Oliver Bell, co-founder of Oliver’s Travels and father of two toddler girls, said: “New places, new travel, new food, new weather, new bed, new everything. Daily routines are essentially shot to pieces when you go on holiday. They often won’t sleep, they won’t eat, they won’t do as they are told. But if you are adequately prepared and you set your expectations accordingly before you travel, there is no reason for parents of toddlers to endure a holiday nightmare. That’s why we have created our essential holidays with toddlers survival guide, which I believe has some very helpful tips for parents like me.”
Oliver Bell also commented: “Toddlers can be more routine-led than you would believe. Learn what to expect and how to deal with these issues before your holiday to maximise your chances of toddler holiday success. Taking a toddler on holiday can be extremely difficult at the best of times but problems can almost always be avoided with some prep work prior to going away.”
Read the essential holidays with toddlers survival guide