There are a lot of adventures I would like to take my kids on, but they all require them to be older and as a result, I have struggled to know what do if we have wanted to go away with young children. You don’t really get a holiday with young children I’ve found, not in the sense that you come away feeling like you’ve had a break (if anything, the opposite) and whereas once travel was just a necessary to get where we needed to go, it now feels like some bush tucker trial one must complete and I’m not entirely sure the results are worth it.
So when I was saying I just wanted a trip away where we could be outside a lot and I wouldn’t have to think too much about how to entertain the kids, Gary gave me a look and that was how I was persuaded to book a four night stay (I was unwilling to commit to more) at Center Parcs.
And do you know what? It was the first holiday I have been on since we became parents where I can honestly say I properly relaxed. I mean, stating the bloody obvious, but it turns out going somewhere that is truly catered to children makes it so much easier for the parents. DUH.
My fear that I might feel like I was stuck in a resort full of shrieking children (look, I love my kids, but I am not a natural when in a room full of children. I find softplay so overstimulating that I have to wear loop earplugs if I don’t want to end up rocking in a corner hyperventilating) was unfounded. Okay, the echoing swimming pool was a lot on the senses, but otherwise, I really did feel like I was in a quiet forest a lot of the time. The cabins are cleverly designed in such a way that you don’t feel like you have neighbours so waking up and looking out the window at trees and little deer scampering about was very calming.
The things that struck me the most was all the little details when it came to being set-up for kids. The child-sized trollies in the supermarket that turned a practical task into an activity within itself. The mini softplay areas tucked inside the restaurants that turned dinner into a relaxing experience as opposed to some weird challenge where you have to attempt to shovel food in your mouth whilst wrangling an octopus. The staff member who bribed Alfie into wearing a life jacket with a cuddly bunny rabbit when my pleas were falling on deaf ears.
We are a family that need to be outside a lot so being able to step out the front door and immediately be in nature was a delight. We taught Alfie to scooter in the forest, took regular trips to the beach, played in some epic playgrounds and would swing by Starbucks for a chai latte and a wander through the trees (yes, I enjoyed this first hint of Autumn), and that was before all the other options available to us. Arthur and I did a baby sensory class, we swam everyday, took a boat trip on the lake and discovered we all really like playing adventure golf together. Having it all right there and hardly having to think about what to do was such a treat for the ol’ noggin. My brain slowed down, and I can’t tell you how nice a feeling that was.
It meant that we could just focus on being together as a family. We made core memories. It will always be the first place Arthur went swimming, his little chubby thighs splashing about in the water. Him accidentally dunking himself is already turning into a family anecdote. It was the first time Alfie went on a water slide, the place we taught him how to ride his scooter. When we got caught in a rainstorm, we had no choice but to turn it into a game and we jumped over giant puddles and 'ran away' from the rain. Pausing on our way home at dusk so Alfie could quietly watch the deer walking through the woods.
Very happy to hold my hands up and say, okay, I was wrong. You gotta embrace the phase of life you are in and with two active boys (if you’re thinking, how can an eight-month baby be active, please feel free to come look after him for an hour), Center Parcs actually enabled us to feel like we were having a proper holiday for the first time since becoming parents.
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