I am of the same school as you. I think anything after 11 is too much, my kids would be little terrors the next day if I let them stay up even til 11. These are the ones that spoil everyones hols with their selfish ways, plus they then spend every morning screaming at their tired kids. (sorry rant over but an achilles heel of a subject for me) enjoy your holiday

Totally agree with you neil

My two are 7 and 4 and the latest we let them stay up on holiday is 10/10.30ish and thats only because they wanted to watch the show the hotel were putting on. Had one or both of them fell asleep on the chairs at any point we would have taken them straight back to the room.

I can't understand those people who just let their kids run riot just because they want to stay up and drink - I don't think even I could stay up to 1.20am now either, I would have been asleep on the chair too!!

totally agree

It's one of the reasons that we, without kids, go early or late season for holidays. Even still, when i've been to places like Castell Montgri, the behaviour of some of the brats (and the parents too!) astounds me.

I can remember going to the same resort with my parents and i would never have been allowed to behave that way, or stay up so late

Sad to say it, but standards of parenting in the UK have dropped like a lead balloon!

I agree with you too Neil, the latest we stay out is midnight bit our kids are getting older now, saying that even if they were younger I would not let them run riot, my kids are well behaved and have very good manners, when we are on holiday sometimes we dont even stay out til midnight all depends how busy a day weve had etc

A holiday is for all the family not just for parents who want to sit in a pub all night and let there kids run wild or when the kids are moaning to go home because they are tired, it wouldn't be me I just couldn't relax knowing my kids wanted to go to bed

I dont know wether i agree with you or not,cant really make up my mind.
My kids are 9 & 12 and we stayed up till about 12 most nights but thats just because they wanted to,me and hubby wanted to go to bed at 10... lol
So really staying up that late isnt for me but for some familys thats how they like to holiday.
This year my son played with a boy at our hotel who apparently used to stay up till 2 with his parents but he didnt get up till about 11 or 12 each day

Being a miserable old sod, I don't like to see kids up and about at that time. On the other hand, ask the McCanns what they would rather do, which is what I have also seen on holiday - i.e. drop the kids back at the room and party on.

If the kids are well behaved, I don't see the problem with it. Obviously if the kids are tired, asking to go home, then obviously the parents should take them. On the other hand, if the kids are enjoying, behaving themselves, what's wrong with it? We went on a family holilday, my niece was around a year old, and my nephew going on 3, they used to just quietly fall asleep, wrapped up in their pushchairs, and we used to be out some nights until 1am. Used to lift the kids from the pushchair and into bed, and they still stayed asleep, and woke around 8am. Everybody should do what's right for them and their own children.

When on holiday I have kept mine out until whatever time they start to say we are tired. Sometimes that could be 8.00p.m and other times it could be midnight!! I have never stayed out with them late though when babies and asleep in buggies.

We have just returned from America and my two aer 12 and 13 and most nights they were asleep in bed by ten!!!

when our son was younger we used to put him to bed and then enjoy a quiet drink on the balcony there is no need to keep them up even if they want to it just makes them miserable next day and more stressful for parents.

When my eldest was 3, I remember going out in the evening and him falling asleep in his dinner.

I felt like the worst mother in the world and it was only 7.30pm - I can't imagine what he would have been like by midnight!!

We have done Eurocamp or equivalent since we have had children. This has allowed us to avoid sitting in the dark from 7 o'clock onwards or having to take children out at night as we have been able to keep them to a fairly normal bedtime and then have a few hours to ourselves with a bottle of wine, and when they were very young, a barbecue. We're not particularly into hotel entertainment anyway so we don't miss it.

I think families know their own children and as long as the children are supervised should be able to do what they want without being judged by others. That, of course is as long as they're well behaved and not disturbing other people. When our 2 boys were still toddlers we used to go for a stroll after our evening meal and more often than not they quite happily fell asleep in their buggies. We didn't have a problem enjoying a quiet drink with them asleep in their buggies until we got back and put them to bed.

When they got older, we'd return to the hotel/apartment when we thought they were getting tired and would enjoy an evening playing cards on the balcony. They would always stay up later than they would have at home as it's their holiday as well as ours and one of the things they enjoyed was being allowed to stay up late and get away from their normal strict bedtime routine.

However, I don't agree with children being allowed to run around or being too noisy at night. After all, most adults want some peace and quiet in the evenings.

Each to his own I suppose. When we took our grandchildren abroad when they were very small, they used to have a siesta for a couple of hours in the afternoon. This meant that they stayed awake longer in the night. I had no problem in letting them sleep in the buggy, and lifting them into bed when we got back. Time isn't an issue for me on holidays. What's the difference between sleeping in a buggy at 3 in the afternoon and at 10 o'clock at night. I agree though that older children should not be left to run riot, and would never make a child stay out when they are tired.

Well said helent.

As many have said, as long as they arent running riot and getting on peoples nerves then wheres the problem? My boys used to sleep in their buggy if i was at home walking to the village or round the town shopping so whats the difference. I just lifted them out when we got home. I dont see a big problem with it as long as they arent asleep in the buggy ALL night asleep, i dont agree with that, but for the sake of an hour or 2 then no problem. If they werent comfy then they would wake up anyway! But if the kids are older and well behaved then, again, i dont see the problem.. I think most people know when their older kids are getting tired, out of control etc and thats the time to call it a night i think.. each to their own i suppose

i remember last year there was a little girl screaming and crying she was tired and wanted to go home, about 5 yrs old and she was told repeatedly to 'stop whinging' 'we cant hear the show' and she actually got slapped legs for moaning.. they were still there 2 hours later and the little girl had fallen asleep on a sun lounger just outside the bar, poor kid.

I've just returned from our first holiday abroad with my 3 and 7 year olds. I had 'hoped' that my daughter (3) would have a nap in the afternoon to enable her to stay awake later in the evenings, by that I mean later than 7 or 8 ish! She refused to sleep during the day though which resulted in her falling asleep at the table on the first night in a restaurant at around 7.30, how embarrassing! She did occassionally fall asleep in her buggy in the evenings, which I see nothing wrong with, and we were able to sit and watch the hotel entertainment for an hour or so, but most nights we were tired ourselves so were back in the room by around 10. I do think after midnight is excessive though.

As long as the kids are well behaved and are not stressing then i don't see the problem. I also think that they should be well supervised.
I don't think it is appropriate that the kids are asleep in buggiesd while the parents are on the lash.

Gav and Deanne were sort of left to their own devices a little bit more by the time they were 15 and 12. They had to report in to us at least once an hour and were never allowed off the complex without either one of us. They never abused that position and we never had any complaints about thier behaviour. It was just they did not want to be with us all the time and kids always make friends on holiday..so 9 times out of ten they would be off with all their new mates doing some supervised entertainment activity.

Now they are older still 19 and 16 to me they are adults and we leave them to it as long as they show respect for other guests. usually they don't even want to come on holiday with us oldies!

Have to admit that ours stayed with us, but I think a lot depends on what the parents are doing. In our case on the odd occasion when we were out late it was normally the adults having a quiet chat relaxing as there was nowhere else to congregate and the kids were comfortable.
However I have more often seen parents drinking for England with the kids passed out after running amok for hours.

Two different scenarios with the same symptoms!

Edit to correct typo - dyslexic wireless keyboard!

Its not so so wrong at all. A holiday is for the kids too as well as the parents, and if the kids want to stay up then why not let them?

We let our two (they'll be 12 & 5 this year) stay up until we go to bed. The eldest plays football or hangs around near us, the youngest stays next to the stage, dances, sings and generally enjoys herself. I wouldnt dream of putting my kids to bed or taking them up to our room when there was still entertainment going on downstairs and other kids still up having fun.

Our youngest will generally have an hour or 2 sleep on an afternoon so she can stay awake at night for the mini disco etc, our eldest is old enough to not need a sleep so we dont have a problem, we stay downstairs and have a few drinks, that doesnt mean to say we force the kids to stay up so we can get trolleyed!

Lighten up will you.....times are changing, we're not still in the 1960's at prison, sorry, butlins camps in case you hadnt noticed, set bed times are for school nights, not for holidays