"This holidays, I don’t want to put my kids in Kids' Club."

I can’t wait for the school holidays. This second term has been exhausting. A long hard slog of homework and schedules. Of 3.30am starts for work, drop offs and picks ups and endless rounds of preparing lunchboxes and uniforms and taking reluctant kids to swimming lessons.

I’m flattened. Tired to the bone. Do you feel that mid-year malaise too? The constant whining and complaining and refusal to put-those-shoes-on-now and the I-don’t-want-to-go-to-tennis/dancing/French/piano/soccer and the I’ve-lost-my lunchbox/library book/jumper. I need a break. I’ve had it.

So…here’s my exciting news.

I am heading away to a slightly fancy resort in a slightly fancy overseas destination. It’s not five-star but there will be a large bed, a pool, hopefully some sun and a kids’ club.

A kids’ club.

The very words make some sleep deprived mums swoon at the thought. The very notion makes some mums giddy with delight. I find the whole thing rather depressing.

Yeah I know what you are thinking: first world dilemma huh?

But kids’ clubs are simply something I don’t really understand.

Isn’t the notion of going on holiday about spending time together? I’m not judging you if spending thousands of dollars to go away with your kids and then fobbing them off to a kids’ club for hours on end is your thing (well maybe I am a little) but I just don’t get it.

I don’t expect everyone to understand. I have discussed this with other mums and I hear what they say, and they hear me and many of them just stare at me blankly. They need a break, they tell me. The kids enjoy kids’ clubs, they say. They want to spend quality time with their partner and the kids are entertained, they say/

I hear the reasons, but I don’t understand. (To tell you the truth, they hear my reasons right back at them and they don’t really understand either!)

But this is what I want to do on my holidays. This is what I dream of when the alarm goes off at 3.20am. This is what I whisper to myself when the next round of fighting or screaming or complaining begins:

I will wake up in the morning and let my kids get ready at their own leisure without nagging them to get dressed. I will eat a meal with my kids without worrying about whether they have ingested all the food groups.

I will let my kids play and run and climb and swing without calling them back because “it’s time to go now”. I will stay up late with my kids without concern they have to get up early the next day for school/soccer/ballet/karate. And I will play with my kids without my attention turning to the next email, the next work call, the next message.

I want to spend time with them. I know this is a luxury, that I am blessed to be going on this small adventure with my little family. I know that it’s a wonderful opportunity and not one we will be able to afford a repeat of any time soon.

I know that before I can blink an eye we will be back to school and work and pre-school. So I want to embrace every second of their carefree holiday spirit and remember what it feels like to enjoy my children’s company.

Like all good plans though this one might fall to the wayside. Because I have not taken into account one important thing – what my kids want. I haven’t yet accounted for the lure of the other children, the enticement of the only-for-kids-activities.

I haven’t accounted for the fact that while I might be aspiring to create all these special holiday memories with my kids. THEY might prefer to go hang out at the kids club. Because after all they are kids. And you know what, I will let them because after all it is their holiday too.

When you go on holiday, do your kids want to go to the kids’ club? Or stay with you?