I don’t think I’m going to get a family holiday this summer. My children are too busy to fit me in this year and anyway it’s too expensive to pay for four adults to go somewhere lovely! My eldest son has started a new job, so he’s not got a lot of holiday at the moment, my daughter has just finished uni and will be travelling galore and my youngest son seems to have finally caught the travel bug (aka much more fun to go without a parent) and is doing his own thing a little more than usual this year.
So, instead I shall sit at home trying very hard not to WhatsApp my children reminders like “don’t take your phone to the pool party unless they have lockers!! You need to check whether there are lockers?” or “Hello? Are you still alive after that car journey/flight/ferry”. One of the hardest things as a parent is to deal with your children being away and try not to worry sick about them. To be fair, I’ve had some horror stories in the past when I’ve had the awful text from one of them saying they’ve been in a fight, arrested, fallen down stairs, bla bla….it’s not good.
For example, here is my son, in Sri Lanka with another family – at the turtle sanctuary. He’s going to do a separate post about his experience shortly:-
So on the positive side, I’m going to try and get them to write about their holidays so that I can live vicariously through them whilst still working in London…just to make myself feel depressed, although to be honest, I love being in London in August – it’s so quiet…so I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I’m also going to do some London based stuff with my kids on the days that they’re free. Will come up with a list on another post. Maybe I’ll do a how to love London in August post for me too.
So interesting watching each of my children get ready for a holiday. They don’t quite fit the stereotypical model below. All three of them are all extremely good at gathering their belongings together, which I imagine is one small advantage to being the children of divorced parents. They’ve had years of packing to go and spend every other weekend with their father. They know what they need and are very independent like that. But only one of my son’s likes to be super organised prior to going away, laying out his clothes and essentials the day before and ensuring that he’s super ready. My other two chuck stuff in a suitcase 2 minutes before having to leave the house for the airport and accuse the organised one of being OCD. They are even super relaxed about nearly missing planes, leaving things to the very last moment, which is so not my style when I am heading off on holiday.
According to some recent research, men tend to have a last-minute rush before a holiday while women are more organised, with a poll of 2,000 adults revealing the age-old stereotype of men leaving things to the last minute is true, with guys admitting to starting their holiday preparation as late as possible.
Apparently the average woman starts their packing for a break four days before they leave, with more than one in ten allowing a full week to get organised. REALLY? This seems to be a little excessive. In our house, I start the day before, like my son and the other two give it two hours tops.
Additionally women tend to allow more time to travel to the airport and check in earlier than men. Despite this, it also emerged being organised doesn’t necessarily result in a more relaxed build-up to a holiday with women most likely to feel concerned before a trip away.
But the results show that despite being more organised, women are generally the ones who feel most worried about their holiday – so perhaps men have it right after all. That said, the last-minute rush when packing for a holiday has led to three quarters of men forgetting something important.
We always do a run through as they’re running out the door:-
Passport? check
Wallet? Check
Phone? Check
Phone charger? Check
Socks, pants, swimming trunks, sun cream, Check
OK, nothing else matters. You can buy it there…and off they go.
When it comes to getting to the airport, eight in ten women worry about making sure they leave enough time to get there, while less than two thirds of men say the same and 47 per cent of women start to worry if they are running slightly late before a flight – something which bothers just 35 per cent of men.
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