Parents’ horror story: How to survive?
I just experienced in real life a horror story for parents… The Christmas market with kids.
Christmas markets are beautiful. The air is filled with the sweet smell of churros and waffle (or something different based on the country :D) and the steam of the mulled wine. Everywhere lights and christmas decorations. It’s such a wonderful experience to dive into the magical world of chritmas markets before Christmas, right?
Nope. Wrong. If you are a parent and you would try to enjoy it with your kids (worse case scenario with a stroller or pram)… it most probably is rather stressful than magical. In worst case it can become a horror experience for you.
You are not alone, you are not doing it wrong.
We went to a beautiful Christmas market with my hubby on Saturday and it was truly magical. It was crowded yes, but it was still managable. Some seasoned parents were there with babycarriers some others were sweating with the strollers.
Some kids were whining and throwing tantrums for the illuminating toys and balloons and we were beyond grateful to enjoy the market without kids. We had our lucky day(s) because grandma was visiting so we could have a bit of time just the two of us.
The following day we decided to go out of the city and rather go to Gent, because we wanted to avoid the biggest crowd but still wanted to show the magical chistmas wonderland to the kids. It should be all right in the afternoon, right?
Wrong.
There were so many people that I considered to just turn around right away.
We tried to stay on the side and not go into the biggest mass but still when we desperetly wanted just to get a waffle we had to queue among the little huts for hours (actually for 20 minutes or so but it seemed like hours to me :D)
The kids didn’t see anything in the crowd so my husband took our daughther on his shoulders (very comfortable) so she doesn’t have to look at the coats and butts.
It was ZERO fun for me, I couldn’t even look around and enjoy the lights because I was constantly checking the ground not to run over anyone’s feet with the stroller.
As throngs of people squeezed through narrow alleys, the constant jostling and lack of personal space quickly became overwhelming. Fairly quickly I was longing for a quiet retreat, away from the frenetic energy that pervaded the air.
So instead of enjoying the music, the lights, some nice food and wine… we were standing (freezing) next to the christmas market and tried to avoid the crowd. The kids got overexcited and wanted to buy everythings… and of course the overstimulation had its effect and my daughter started screaming and making a scene that she wanted to have dinner there anyway (amazing idea :P)
I learned 2 things from this experience and I hope it will help you to avoid similar experiences:
Don’t go to Christmas market with kids :D Leave them with nanny, grandma.. and enjoy it without them. They care more about the lights and fun with YOU… so have a walk in the neigborthood and enjoy the christmas lights in silence
Go to Christmas markets during the weekday or early afternoon when it’s less likely crowded
Because honestly… that experience is very far away from the instaworld pictures where the whole family enjoys the christmas spirit with some nice food and drinks.
I needed the whole evening to recover :D
It was overwhelming, stressful and overstimulating.
I wanted to share my story honestly with You and I’m happy if you can share a more positive one with me :D
Again as I always say: you do you. My advice though is that - Go there if you love the crowd and the buzz… but don’t go there if you’re easily overstimulated like me.
Xoxo