Empowering the Single Mom

[frstimer128]

To all the single travelling moms out there...good for you! I can't tell you how many time I have had other moms look at me in absolute disbelief when I tell them that I take my daughter on vacations on my own. My best friend is paralized with fear to travel in her car more than a hour away from home without her husband. It is absolutely possible to have the time of your life with just you and your children. They are our own kids...we know how to handle them better than anyone. So what if they have a meltdown in the middle of the park? We handle it the same way we would if we were in our local grocery store.
Having an adventure with just you is something they will remember always. It shows our girls, especially, that we can do whatever we want to do. It models for them how to be independant and confident and how to be strong decision makers. It is a great confidence booster for us as well.

So to all the moms considering a solo vacation with the kids....Do it! We WILL survive!

 

[catherines_mama]

I know! I am a full-time single mom.. no days off no weekends free. I love it. Yes, some days are much better than other.. BUT.. it's the best.

About traveling alone. Well, its not like I don't do it daily. You are very right, who else can take care of our kids like us. DD and I were at a local amusement park last weekend and saw one of her classmates and his mom and dad. They looked to be having a great time, but so were we. Later in the week Christy said to me, "how in the world can you take her there by yourself? i wouldnt even imagine..." I guess its just what I do.

WDW with DD and myself was our 1st large solo trip. We'd hopped on planed alone before to go stay with someone, and we'd driven 12 hrs just us to stay with someone. This was our first end-to-end solo trip. AND it was the most magical wonderful week I'd had in a long time. I enjoyed her more than ever on that trip and I can't wait to go back to enjoy her even more! It gives you special magical time together that you can never get back.. its priceless! Call MasterCard.. we'd be a good commercial

HIP HIP HORRAY to do-it-yourselfers!

 

[frstimer128]

I am always so happy to hear from other single moms who aren't afraid of traveling adventures. I just want to help all the moms out there who have doubts about being alone with the kids. It's a lot of fun and it is not that hard. They don't know what they're missing.
Thanks catherines_mama!

 

[bobcat]

Ditto! I couldn't have said it better!

 

[F1Julie]

In many ways, I think it's easier to go as a single mom. My DD and I do what we want, when we want without having to make any compromises for other people. It's always easy to get a table for 2, we have lots of space in our hotel room.

 

[bode]

Ok, I want to get my 2 cents in.... I am a single dad and my dd and i travel alot together. she is 4 and we always seem to have a great time. yes it is tiring sometimes not having that other person to take some of the heat off you when things are a little stressed but it is always worth it. she and i will be going to wdw in september for the first time and i can't tell you how excited we both are. so, here is one for all the single dads !!!!

 

[mrsltg]

Here's another cheer for the single mom's and dad's! I am a cop's wife, so DH's schedule makes me a single mom a lot! I took Dierdre to WDW last year by myself for a couple of days and we did great! I was so proud of myself afterwards for doing EVERYTHING on my own (flights, rental car, carseat installation , hotel check-in, meals, drives, parks, yada yada yada). It is not easy, but it is a lot of fun!!!

Erin

 

[frstimer128]

Bode,
How great that you get to spend time travelling with your daughter! The post should be changed to Empowering Single Parents!! lol Sorry for the discrimination
I was getting frustrated reading posts about moms questioning whether they can handle their own kids on a vacation without their husbands. I am proud to be a single mom! Also, being the control freak that I am, it's nice to be the sole decision maker.

 

[PlutoPony]

In my little part of the world, I haven't run into many moms that are willing to take their kids on "adventures" on their own. In my experience, the ones that are are either a) single parents or 2) very independent, willing to make decisions and do things (please don't flame - simply my experience). There are 4 of us who take our kids camping before school starts each fall (we also do day trips, hiking in the mountains, etc). When we try to get other moms to go with us, they're somewhat incredulous that we do this "on our own" (You put the tent up by yourself? What if something happens??) We get a laugh out of it! We're also the only ones willing to drive for day trips (like DC to Baltimore). One of us is a single mom and the others aren't - we just all want to do things w/ our kids! It really doesn't make a difference to them - and hopefully my son will remember this later if/when he's a husband/father.

 

[spooers23]

My dh and I have always given each other a weekend without each other. Now that we have our ds, I took ds to Myrtle Beach to meet my mom and grandmom by myself. I was hard the first couple of hours because I had to stop to feed ds (6 months). When we travel together one of us just climbs in the back of the minivan to feed him. I can't wait for more just mom and son weekends.

 

[Daisy64]

Couldn't agree more. I went solo the end of Jan with my 4 and 6 yr old. We stayed at PC and the three of us had so much fun!! No offense to my DH as I love travelling with him too; BUT that trip in Jan was probably the best one yet!! Every decision was my own and he wasn't there counting the dollars we had spent in a day..lolol. I'm planning another trip the end of April 2005, if DH wants to come he's welcome, but if not then It'll be just me and the children!

Daisy

 

[LisaZoe]

To be honest, I've found myself more likely to take vacations (not just time off from work) since I became a mom. I'm a single mother with a DD, almost 3, that I adopted when she was 4 weeks old. Our first big trip was a cruise to Alaska when she was 11 months (this was a present to myself for my 40th b'day). Many people who heard of it were very surprised I wasn't finding someone to watch DD while I went alone! Sure I might have been able to do more "adult" activities but I had so much fund with DD I can't imagine not going with her for other trips (I do take semi-annual "women only" weekends with friends, though).

Our second big trip was to Disneyland last year. On that trip my sister came along. While I'm perfectly capable of doing things for my daughter and me on my own, it was nice to have some help - especially with the car seat while I pushed the stroller and handled our luggage at the airports

Our upcoming trip to WDW (a first for us both) in mid-Sept. will also be a mom and daughter trip. I'm very excited and agree with other posters that this kind of trip is really nice because I can cater more to what my DD and I want to do without worrying that the other person/people with us want to do other things instead.

My one complaint about single parent travel is that all hotel/air, cruise, etc. packages show prices that assume 2 adults. If it is one adult and one child, you pay full fare for the child. On our cruise that meant I was paying adult prices for meals, entertainment, etc. for my 11 mo. I still went because I wanted to do the cruise more than I was annoyed by the "2 adults per room" assumptions. I don't expect a break on hotel since I'm using the same amount of space whether it's DD and me or a family of 4-5, though, but some other "discounts" based on age for more inclusive packages would be nice. Of course, since DD isn't 3 yet, we do get a break at WDW because she won't need a ticket, will eat free at buffets, etc. which sure helps for now... but that will change at the end of Oct. when she turns 3 so our May '05 trip to DL I'll be paying for park admission and meals. Oh well, it will alsways be worth it with Disney, IMHO.

 

[MELSMICE]

Kudos to all of you!!! I'm not a single mom. I can't imagine why anyone would question you taking your children on solo trips anywhere. Why not - what are you supposed to do, sit home? BORING!!

Go & have fun doing all the things that anyone else would do with their children!

 

[Sandy Feet]

Originally posted by MELSMICE
Kudos to all of you!!! I'm not a single mom. I can't imagine why anyone would question you taking your children on solo trips anywhere. Why not - what are you supposed to do, sit home? BORING!!

Go & have fun doing all the things that anyone else would do with their children!

Hear, hear! You all should be CONGRATULATED on doing a tough job by yourself. I consider myself pretty independant but am a total scaredy cat when it comes to driving in cities, poor Dh is always the driver. Single parents don't have the option of leaning on someone else.

 

[Scratch42]

Originally posted by LisaZoe



My one complaint about single parent travel is that all hotel/air, cruise, etc. packages show prices that assume 2 adults. If it is one adult and one child, you pay full fare for the child. On our cruise that meant I was paying adult prices for meals, entertainment, etc. for my 11 mo. I still went because I wanted to do the cruise more than I was annoyed by the "2 adults per room" assumptions. I don't expect a break on hotel since I'm using the same amount of space whether it's DD and me or a family of 4-5, though, but some other "discounts" based on age for more inclusive packages would be nice. Of course, since DD isn't 3 yet, we do get a break at WDW because she won't need a ticket, will eat free at buffets, etc. which sure helps for now... but that will change at the end of Oct. when she turns 3 so our May '05 trip to DL I'll be paying for park admission and meals. Oh well, it will alsways be worth it with Disney, IMHO.

That's my one complaint too!

I've always had to pay for DD as an adult! And then when Disney came out with "Magical Gatherings!" well we both said, "What about us Small Families!"

Kuddos to us All!

You guys should also look into Disney Cruisin', it's a great way to get together time plus have some adult interaction or even alone time for yourself!

Scratch

 

[LKS]

Even if not a single Mom, I like to make time to take the kids off each by themselves for one on one time. I am taking each child to Europe by myself as they turn 11 (once they turn 12, a lot of the child discounts disappear). The first was last year and second is next year. It was fantastic.

Next year either while we're gone or when we get back, my husband plans to take the other two on a tour of civil war battlefields.

He will also take each one on a western outdoorsy adventure when they turn 16.

I get a lot more vacation than my husband too (longer tenure with one company), so I usually take all three to the beach or somewhere every year - often with my mother.

Of course we still take 1-2 family vacations each year and there's usually a parent's weekend away (and twice - even a whole week!), but this plan works for us because we all get to do more of what we really want to do, without squandering precious vacation days on trips we aren't really excited about. Camping for me is just OK and the beach to my husband, is boring...

 

[LisaZoe]

Scratch42 - I'm waiting to do a Disney cruise after DD is old enough to participate in the kids only activities so I can have some time to try other things, like spa treatments, while she's busy elsewhere. Ditto on the Magical Gathering. While my extended family isn't small, I doubt we'll all be able to get our schedules and budgets in sync to take such a trip for many years, if ever. That's one reason why I took DD on our first solo vacation. I decided I wasn't going to wait until others could go with us. While I'd love to have more family be able to joing us on our trips, we're not going to stay home if they can't.

LKS - It's good to know there are discounts for children traveling to Europe. I hope to take DD when she is old enough to really enjoy and remember such a trip. Until then, we'll still have a lot of fun seeing "the World" on trips to Florida.

 

[jweiss]

How come whenever someone posts about single parent travel, married people pipe in talking about what it's like to travel without their spouses??? There is a HUGE difference between being a single parent and going away for a few days as a "single parent". I find it very demeaning to hear people taling about how hard it is to be a sole parent for a few days. Just me two cents.... maybe the married "single parents" should start a thread on traveling without spouse.......

 

[disneyjunkie]

.

Originally posted by jweiss
How come whenever someone posts about single parent travel, married people pipe in talking about what it's like to travel without their spouses??? There is a HUGE difference between being a single parent and going away for a few days as a "single parent". I find it very demeaning to hear people taling about how hard it is to be a sole parent for a few days. Just me two cents.... maybe the married "single parents" should start a thread on traveling without spouse.......

The people that posted to this thread were not trying to demean anyone. They’re posting what they have experienced while traveling alone with children and giving words of encouragement.

I'm a single mom, always have been, and probably always will be. I wasn't offended by any of the replies here.

My son and I are taking our first cruise in April. At first I was worried about finding things to do while he's in the Stack, but I've gotten over that.

I'm looking forward to Palo's, the spa, (I've never had a massage) the Rainforest Room...

We've done Disney twice and are going again this Christmas. It's great to be able to do what we want without worrying about anyone else.

I've enjoyed reading this thread. I hope more people will post their experiences.:thewave: :thewave: :thewave:

 

[frstimer128]

Originally posted by jweiss
How come whenever someone posts about single parent travel, married people pipe in talking about what it's like to travel without their spouses??? There is a HUGE difference between being a single parent and going away for a few days as a "single parent". I find it very demeaning to hear people taling about how hard it is to be a sole parent for a few days. Just me two cents.... maybe the married "single parents" should start a thread on traveling without spouse.......

What fired me up to start this thread in the first place was reading a post from a mom with two kids, 7 and 9. She booked a trip for her and the kids and will be going without her husband. She was concerned about what to do if one of the kids misbehaves or doesn't want to participate in rides. She actually asked if she made the right decision booking the trip in the first place.

I know what you are saying jweiss and I agree that going without your spouse for a couple days is way different than not having one at all. It is very frustrating to hear married mothers questioning whether or not they can survive a few days alone with their children when we do it every single day. Not just in Disney, but anywhere. I have met so many moms that would never dream of taking their own children on a solo vacation, even for a weekend. I guess as true single parents, we don't have any other choice. I hope that the married moms who are intimidated by vacationing alone can become inspired by us single travelling parents and give it a shot.