How to Take a Child-Free Weekend Away


Once you have children, it is tempting to feel that every break must be a family holiday. Indeed, many parents feel guilty at the mere thought of going away without their children. If you can overcome this mental obstacle, taking short breaks away from the children can be a great way to put some sparkle back into your relationship.

The Advantages of Weekends without the Children

In long-term relationships, things can easily become stale and this is even more likely if children are involved. The focus is often tightly centred on the children to the extent that both parents neglect each other and start to take each other for granted. Intimate contact such as kissing and hugging often falls by the wayside, and it is common to forget the things that made you want to be a couple in the first place. Taking a short break away from the family environment is a good opportunity to reconnect as a couple, which is not always possible at home, especially if the demands of home and family dominate your home life. It can also avoid the possibility of one partner having an affair as he or she is less likely to feel neglected.

Couple Drinking

Are Your Children Ready?

If you have never previously been on a break without your children, it may be easy for separation anxiety to occur. Some children cannot bear the idea of their parents taking time away from them and may become upset and agitated in your absence. To determine whether your children are ready for you to take a child-free weekend away, try an overnight trip to test the waters. This could involve embarking on your trip in the early evening and returning around lunchtime. If your children react well to this and do not display signs of anxiety, a weekend away may well be a viable proposition. If however, your children react poorly to your overnight absence, it is likely that they are not yet ready to spend a weekend away from you. This is particularly common if your children are strongly reliant on you in emotional terms as your sudden absence will cause considerable distress. As there is no definitive age at which children are no longer emotionally dependent on their parents, this is something that you will have to judge from your knowledge of your children. If your children are old enough, try explaining the situation to them so that they are aware of what will be happening. This can help them to understand that you are not suddenly disappearing with no prior warning, and that you will be back soon.

Filed Under: Family & Relationships

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About the Author: Roberta Southworth is a psychiatrist by profession. She likes to help out people by writing informative tips on how people can to solve their family and relationship issues. She is currently staying in Ireland. She has 5 years of couple counseling experience.

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