Have you ever taken a trip without your kids?

[MrsPete]

Yes, DH and I have taken short trips just for us. We've found that we NEED some alone time to reconnect with one another -- it kind of recharges us. It doesn't have to be a trip. It could be that the kids go to Grandma's for an overnight and we have a special dinner/evening at home. We don't want to be one of those couples who drop the last child off at college, then look at each other and say, "Except for the children, we have nothing in common anymore."

Having said that, we would not go to Disney World alone. That's a family destination.

The kids will be with you 18 years -- you'll fit in more than a few trips during that time period! What matters most is what you're doing with them each and every day at home. If everything is good on a daily basis, the kids will be FINE without you for a long weekend.

 

[HALEYSMOMMOM]

It's wonderful that your kids are fine without you for a while, and you without them, but I cannot say that about mine (or me ). I think this is a personal decision, and broad statements saying that someone elses children will be fine are not valid. I'm a stay at home mom spending lots of time with my children every day, so that has nothing to do with it. Maybe it has to do with the personalities of all involved, as well as the age of the children. Mine are 5 and 1, and right now what we all want is to be with each other, so that's the way its going to be.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Yes I would go to WDW without my kids. My DH and I just did it this past August, it was a surprise trip for me!! We needed time alone, and I needed to get away from the kids! I love them, but needed a break. We had a ball, no schedule, did an all day adult only tour, and things that we couldnt do with the kids. We resort hopped, and took pictures of the 4 different resorts we stayed in, and fell in love with the AKL. We didn't tell them (DD8 & DS3) where we were going beforehand, but did tell them afterwards. And then we told them that we were going in November with them. Yes we did miss them, but husbands and wife needs time together alone. We go out to eat without the kids at least once a month. Family time & kid time is important, but so is husband and wife time.

 

[kpk89]

I have vacationed without my kids, but no more than a long weekend. And we did go to Disney this October without them, because we rationalized that we were on a reconnaisance mission about the DVC. We both knew that we could sign up without going in person, but it was a good excuse to go and celebrate our 10th anniversary, and a family member volunteered (before we planned the trip) to take the children. We told them we were in Florida, but not exactly where. And now I am SO excited to take the whole family in May!

 

[tjmw2727]

Dh and I have been once sans kids for a long weekend and it was wonderful. Even the girls understood that M&D needed a bit of a break and it didn't matter to them if it was WDW or Cape Cod. Plus they had Auntie "yes" to dote on them for 4 days. My youngest asked me to please ride all the scary rides so she doesn't have to! (fyi we never do/did force!).

I have also taken each of my girls on 1-1 trips and neither was jelous of the other and both enjoyed the mom & me time. We are going on a family trip this month and DH and I are going alone in Feburary. His company has a conference and he won the opportunity to take a guest with an extra couple days and park passes, that guest will me me DW. Since it is during school time Auntie will spoil the kids again and DH and I will recharge and re-connect. At 7 and 9 they don't care if the conference is in Washington (next year) or Orlando and wish us well.

I understand completely that many choose not to vacation without the children and I love that choice. I also hope that others understand that dh and I choosing to vacation without our children occasionally dosen't negate how much we love and cherish every moment with them. I personally think there is room for every point of view, every parenting style and most of all visiting Disney as much as possible!

TJ

 

[kpk89]

ITA -- though I must admit that during our weekend of recharging and reconnecting (which was great!) I also found myself noticing different things and making comments about how much the kids would like x, y, or z. Just makes me want to take them all the more! We had a blast, but I don't think just dh and I will go alone again until the kids are grown.

 

[zippehsmom]

DH and I have spent weekends away from our girls. The first time we did this our oldest DD was 18months. We went to Vegas for 3 days. We were miserable. All we thought about was, she probably thinks we've abandoned her. Well, we vowed not to take another trip until she could understand that we'd be back. Well that lasted until she was about 3, Vegas again for a weekend. Of course we remembered how much we missed her the first time. Since then we have added DD number 2. The longest we've ever been away is overnight trips. Now we are planning to be gone 2 days, taking the train to Toronto this weekend. We'll see how it goes.

Our DD's have no problem with spending time with Grandma. I'm a teacher so and she watches them for me. So they are totally relaxed and at home with Grandma. It's really nice having Grandma as a babysitter.

I agree everyone has different needs for their family, but my DH and I certainly enjoy spending some alone time together. We still do all the family things, but having that time to just connect with him refreshes our relationship. My MOm always tells me, "When the kids leave the house, it'll just be the two of you, so make sure you keep your marriage alive".

So off I go to Toronto, this weekend. We'll see how guilty we both feel.

zippehsmom

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

DH and I spent a 3 day weekend at Jekyll Island, GA together a couple years ago and it was great. He was getting ready to leave for Korea for a year and we had 4 kids (we have 5 now), and we had just had a really stressful couple of years with him in Bosnia and our ds diagnosed with leukemia, we needed some time to ourselves to unwind without any pressure or responsibilities. The kids needed us to be unwound as well, they can tell when their parents are stressed. We were only an hour and half away from home and they stayed with their aunt and uncle and had a blast playing with their cousins so I knew they would be fine (and their aunt is a nurse). DH and I spent the weekend doing adult things the kids wouldn't enjoy like a historical tour and checking out things we weren't sure if they would like so maybe we could go back with them and do it like a dolphin tour. I'm not sure if I would go to WDW without them, I think I would enjoy maybe a four day weekend just to do some of the adult things like Pleasure Island, but that's kind of far for me, I would worry too much about being that far away from them. Plus it's not in our budget to make frequent trips so when we can go we go as a family because we don't know when we'll be able to go back. They knew we were at the island and they were a little disappointed because we took them to that beach alot, but they also knew that we were doing "grown-up" things, ie boring so they weren't upset. My kids understand that sometimes their dad and I go on dates and none of them gets upset anymore, but we still don't do it often, maybe once every six months, and it's usually just an evening movie or something. We just explain to them that we're grown-ups and we want to do the things that we enjoy, but they wouldn't.

 

[DissyLove]

I confess I did a quick Disney trip with my sister, sans-kids. But I have a reason: My children's grandmother was dying to have them for a few days, and those were the days we could do it. Also, my little one was only 8 months old at the time and my older one, just 21/2. I didn't feel quilty at the time, but now that they are older and love our Disney trips, I quietly remember the one time I didn't take them. But boy, disney without kids is different! I doubt I would do it now, but we adults sure had fun!!

 

[crazywig]

my oldest is 2.5 yrs and we took 2 trips in '03 without him. we went to cedar point to ride the big coasters for 4 days in june and we went to disney for 5 nights over our anniversary weekend in november.

he stayed with my mom both times and she loves having him. he gets spoiled by her and my siblings who live near my mom (we don't).

i'm glad we did it. we just had another baby 3 months ago so we probably won't be able to do that again, or at least not often.

we did just leave both kids with my mom for one night for our anniversary. we believe having alone time without the kids is vital to keeping a healthy relationship so we plan on continuing the overnites.

 

[DisFam95]

DH and I went to WDW with another couple and left our 5 month old baby with the grandparents. Each set took 2-3 days and just LOVED it. Everybody won. We had had this trip planned in early pregnancy..before really knowing I think. My mom said I would not be able to leave my child but I had no problem. I knew he was in more than capable hands and DH and I really needed the time alone. We've gone to Disney so many times as adults I thought it was more strange to take DS last year!!!