Leaving children for holidays?

There is a difference between "can't wait to leave them" and taking a break, using the opportunity to reconnect as a couple.

My kids are part of almost ALL my time. I feel no guilt at all about letting them sleep over at my parents' once in a while (which incidentally both the kids and my parents LOVE) in order to put some time and energy into my relationship with their father. If you never feel that need, that's nice. But for us it's part of keeping our relationship healthy, and that's in ALL of our best interest, including the kids'.

Honestly, you make the odd couple's weekend sound like parents are sending their kids off to boarding school from the age of 3 months. Have a little perspective, will you? And lose the better than thou attitude please. Realize that what works for your family simply doesn't work for everybody.

"Holidays are for families as far as I'm concerned."

Then take your holidays with your family, but don't be so quick to judge. I've been married for 20 years and a parent for 16. I have four children, and had eleven years of having at least one child under 5 in my house. I am a stay at home parent and you can do the math at how many thousands of hours I've spent with my kids over the years. We take at least one and usually two family holidays a year. My husband and I also take an annual weekend or long weekend just for ourselves while the kids enjoy time with their grandparents. It keeps our marriage and sanity intact, refuels us to be better parents when we get back, and is a blast for the kids and their grandparents, who get a chance to bond and make their own memories. Going away for a few days a year is hardly the same as not making your kids part of your free time, and kids are not scarred by and can even actively benefit from spending time with other loving caretakers occasionally.

Leaving them should only be on rare occasions. You can't bring your kids everywhere because of some environments unfortunately (bars, hospitals, movies, etc) But yes, children should always be apart of your free time. But if there's a time when you can't bring them along, it helps the relatives (who could possibly be watching him) bond with the child alone. Sometimes it's more pleasant for the grandparents having one on one time with the children, especially for in laws. If relatives aren't watching the child, then other people (of course people you can trust only) can be a somewhat newer face to socialize with. Kids need to socialize with people other than mom and dad often to have a healthy social life when they get older. (Don't want your kids to grow up quiet and unable to be outgoing for peers, that way they will be involved in sports and get a scholarship for college someday ) another thing is, if you never leave your child to have time for yourself then they end up becoming

My kids are raised. We have great relationships with our kids. We have a close and happy family and the kids are thriving. We also have a fantastic 27 year long marriage.

We did family vacations as well as time/trips without the kids. It does not need to be an either/or situation. You seem like you have tunnel vision for some reason, stuck on this one thing.

Because of the trips and time we spent as a couple over the years they went and stayed with grandma and grandpa (both sets). They loved these trips. They are very close with both sets of grandparents who live in other states.

In addition, the state of our marriage as a couple is important for our children. These trips reconnect us as a couple and adds to the healthy home for our kids to grow up in.

Again, not sure why you are stuck on an either/or - there can be couples trips as well as family trips. I am also wondering why you think you know how others should conduct their lives.

I know how my husband and I raised our kids and I know what a good job we did. I know the benefits of staying connected as a couple and the value of allowing grandparents time with their grand kids without the parents around. I also know the value of the time we spent with our kids, the trips we took as a family, the family time at home, etc.

If you don't want to vacation without your kids, then take your kids with you on vacations. Personally, my family has done both. I've even gone on trips by myself, as has my husband. We've taken one trip without our son, and he stayed with his grandparents and had a blast playing with his cousins. Our families live in different states, so spending a whole week with his grandparents and cousins was a vacation for him, too.

My parents also went on the occasional trip without me when I was a kid, and I was hardly traumatized by it. Rather, it meant I got to stay at my grandparents' and get spoiled for an entire week! What kid wouldn't love that? I went to sleep-away camps several times, too. I think every kid should have that experience if they can.

going on a vacation without kids doesn't mean the kids rent loved. Its just a break for mom and dad so they can have some adult time and do things they wouldn't be able to if they had the kids with them

Where I live that would be considered 'Child Abuse', and illegal; unless ther kids were left under the care of an adult.

Oh please, catering to a child's every whim makes them into spoilt narcissistic brats. Parents need alone time so they can decompress and it makes parenting less stressful.

My husband and I vacationed alone and we also did family vacations we left the kids with our parents .