Thinking about leaving 2 year old at home...

[winesis]

Well, here' the latest.

 

DH simply cannot leave 2 year old home. Plus thinks his family would be way offended if any of us skip trip. So he insists she go.

 

I tried to get help from family for managing luggage and 2 kids for the flights, but they are all combining cruise with side vacations, so we're on our own.

 

Also, family has given me head up to remove child from sleeping area when she screams at night so that she doesn't wake them up.

 

DH is convinced that we'll be able to manage excursions and hikes with one child walking and 2 year old in an outgrown backpack carrier. He's used this carrier once, and child struggled to get out the whole time. That was a year ago.

 

DH thinks we can lighten our load by only bringing car seat for younger child. I'm not okay with that.

 

Wish me luck! I'm afraid I'm not going to have any patience for fellow passengers who give me a hard time. I think my times are going to be hard enough.

 

Does this strike anyone else as odd. The family/husband insists the kids go, no one can offer traveling help, and they want the child to be removed if crying at night? Removed where? It okay to wake up strangers but not family?

 

We are taking our 3yr old, and my parents on the Carribean Princess. If she was crying loud enough to wake them up at night in their adjoing room, I KNOW they would be knocking on the door to see what they could do to help.

 

With 26 extended family members traveling with you, I would hope that at least one or two would be able to provide you with help and support during your excursions. Don't any of them have any children, or remember what it was like when their children were little? Sorry, I have no patience for people who complain about little ones, whether it is family or other strangers on the ship.

 

Maybe you can pack some things and have them shipped directly to the ship. I know you can do this on the Disney cruises. I would look into shipboard babysitting services before I got on the ship, at least to know what is available. And I would also pack my Xanax:rolleyes:, and a good sense of humor to make it through the week.

 

Good Luck!

[Pisces11]

This is from a grandparent's perspective-take your kids with you. You are traveling with a large group-use them. We took our daughter, sil, son and grandson on a cruise. Our grandson was 15 months old. It worked out well for everyone. Both our son and us, brought diapers, baby wipes, bibs and jars of babyfood in our suitcases. We all live in different states and just asked our daughter what we could bring to help her out in an extra suitcase. You are allowed to check 2 suitcases on a plane. Ask relatives to bring things, they will be glad to help. We had the early dinner. My son, who wanted to eat later, came to dinner with us and as soon as our grandson ate, he took him out of the dining room and played with him. My husband and I, put the portacrib in our room every other night, and had our grandson sleep with us so our daughter and sil could have alone time. We also gladly took our grandson to a beach so our daughter and sil could go scuba diving. My husband didn't like going to the shows, so he volunteered to stay in the room with our grandson and read in the evenings while our grandson went to sleep. You have an even larger group to help you out. Our grandson was fine and we loved spending all that time with him. Yes, I let him run (he was in the running stage) up and down the corridors and the stairs with me behind him. We had a great time. This is a perfect time for all your relatives to get to know your children, both of them. Honestly, our grandson was much better behaved than the college kids who were on our deck. They were in the hallways until morning, laughing, drinking and being inconsiderate to the people who had rooms around them. The airport was not fun for my daughter and sil, but because we had all volunteered to bring things, they didn't have to carry so much. You are a very considerate person to be so concerned about your fellow passengers. As long as your relatives are willing to help you out, everyone will have a good time.

[Pisces11]

Don't assume that just because people are older they don't like children around. Most people enjoy seeing children play and being happy. Most people don't enjoy unruly children with parents nowhere in sight. There will be people using walkers, canes and wheelchairs who will smile at your children and be glad to see them. We were on a Carnival ship that actually kicked a family off the ship. They had a group of wild kids, 10 and up, who were running all around the ship knocking people over. This same captain, also held some people under ship arrest until we got to a port. It was the talk of the ship and a lot of people went down to see the room under guard. My daughter had the same concerns about bothering people if they brought our grandson.

[cruisingbug]

Please note that this thread was from January 2006, talking about a June 2006 cruise.

[mruhaak]

Yes... wonder how it all turned out?

[ratherBcruizin']

Yes... wonder how it all turned out?

 

Yeah I remember following this thread and would love to hear from babytraveler.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Yeah I remember following this thread and would love to hear from babytraveler.

 

Hi:

 

I know this is a late response' date=' but I too followed Babytraveler's saga earlier this year. She posted her experiences on the HAL board, which is the forum I usually frequent. Here are two posts where she describes her family's experience on Holland America. Things turned out just fine :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=6986425&postcount=1

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=7916117&postcount=141

[eyegel]

My wife and I have three children (ages 4, 5, and 6). When they were younger we left them with their day care provider, a lady who was like a third grandmother to them, when cruising for one week per year. The children had a wonderful time. My wife and I had a wonderful time, except when my wife was feeling guilty about leaving the children behind. Since she is a working mother, she felt that she was "bad" for wanting some time alone with me. For my part, since I play Mr. Mom in the morning and our weekends are consumed with taking care of the kids and the house, I was not so altruistic. I thought that we deserved a break at least for that one week a year.

 

As a stay at home mom, I think you need that break even more, perhaps for different reasons. Having two parents handling one older child onboard a ship is much easier than having two children along, especially given the age differential.

 

My wife finally prevailed on me to start taking the kids once they reached age two. The oldest has already been on five cruises and they have all been to Europe twice. [We live in California.] We are leaving on a ten day cruise out of New York next month when, for the first time, all of the children are old enough (and completely potty trained) to attend "preschool on the ship."

 

As much as my wife has enjoyed having the kids on our cruises, she now admits that we always came back more exhausted having spent all our time taking care of them. It is a pleasure to see the children having fun, but you can get worn down, especially when you have to travel long distances. By the time we would come back from vacation, I would usually be barking at my wife and she would be sniping at me. My wife is ecstatic that, on this trip, we will have some time to ourselves during the days at sea.

 

At 5-1/2 your older child will have a blast and you will get a real kick out of seeing her pleasure. One child that age is easy to handle. In my experience, however, the younger one will not get nearly the pleasure . . . and neither will you. If you have a safe place to leave the baby, leave the baby.