YES Says Deborah Collcutt
FOR the third time that morning I’d dried off, carefully reapplied sun cream, altered the position of the parasol, topped up my water and settled down again with my book. Three paragraphs in and the call came again: “Mummy, are you coming in the pool?”
“I’ve just got out of the pool!” I replied. “What’s happened to your game of Boing?”
Boing was the genius ball game my friend and I had invented to keep our two daughters entertained in the pool of our Greek villa while we adults relaxed nearby.
I adore my 11-year-old daughter Dory and I love spending time with her – even playing several rounds of Boing with her in the pool – but when it comes to holidays I believe adults are from Mars and children from Venus: we want completely different things from a summer break. In addition to sunbathing and reading I like wandering around local towns and villages, visiting markets and ideally an art gallery or two.
I’m no sloth, I love exercise but in short bursts: an early morning run and an energetic swim and then it’s back to my book and sun lounger. In essence I like the sort of summer holiday I used to have with girlfriends and which is not of course of interest to two 11-year-old girls. With enough persuasion they will come with us to the market but the excursion needs to involve purchases – multiple and often – to include clothes, trinkets, ice creams and pancakes.
During the day, after a lie-in and leisurely breakfast because they go to sleep too late, they perform repetitive activities in water: ball throwing, handstands, diving and lilo races. Unless you are a nanny or a children’s entertainer, no adult participates willingly in these games. If they do they are merely bagging time credits to be exchanged for solitary time on the lounger or at the beach pool bar.
Children want to eat at completely different times to adults who eagerly embrace vastly extended lunches and dinners and eat late like the locals. By then children are hungry, bored and irritable which means that all too often it is impossible to savour a relaxed dinner amid the cries of “I’m bored” and “When are we leaving?” Nothing quite spoils the ambience like these words.
Of course, going on a summer holiday means travelling there – cited in the survey as the most stressful part. I am widelytravelled but I did much of it before my daughter was born and often for work when I was always in a rush. Travelling with my daughter involves a lot of waiting and a lot of patience on my part, with a leisurely browse around duty free off the cards.
So, yes, just occasionally it would be great to holiday without children. The irony being that now my daughter is getting older she tells me that I’m the one who is annoying and embarrassing to go on holiday with – so I must be very careful what I wish for.