The voice note a friend left me before my family and I flew to Thailand was wonderfully optimistic: “I hope you’ll have a lovely relaxing time away with the kids.”
Relaxing, as a verb, has not been a word used in our holiday vocabulary for almost a decade since our son, who's now 10, discovered his legs could be used to toddle himself away from mummy and daddy and how much "fun" it was when they chased after him.
In my family, we refer to holidays as “surviving abroad” or “keeping the children safe in a different country”; the word relaxing doesn’t make an appearance in either scenario.
On her blog The Parent Cue, family writer Sarah Anderson notes: “I heard someone say once that a vacation with little kids is like an away game. You’re doing the same stuff you do at home – the same work, the same disciplining, the same schedule, the same requirements, but in an unfamiliar place. With lots of sand.”
If you’re a parent to children under 12, your holiday will not be a holiday as you had previously known it.
So, put aside your jealousy of all those older parents casually traversing piazzas or newer ones lying flat on sunloungers with babies safely next to them in pushchairs; worry not, their time will come.
Here’s how to make a holiday with children vaguely resemble a holiday …
Two words: children's club
On our recent holiday, we stayed in two resorts, one of which had a terrible club with no planned activities, one (unengaged) member of staff and approximately three board games and a pack of Uno cards.
The second had one with plenty of staff, hourly planned activities, a gaming area, a pool table, air hockey, outdoor treasure hunts and more.
Bottom line: When going abroad, the children's club at the resort can make or break the vacation.
Look for clubs with multiple staff and good online reviews, then aim to send little ones in at a set time each day. The best times we found are mid-morning, after lunch or late afternoon, allowing for a much-needed couple of hours off for mum and dad.
Pools are not just for swimming
The pool is another vital component to the success of holidays with young children.
To a parent, the Instagrammable aesthetics of an infinity or sunset pool pales in comparison to a swimming pool that entertains the children.
The pool is where you will spend most of your time watching your fingertips grow wrinkly, so look for options with additional entertainment, such as a slide, waterfall, splash pad or shallow area for toddlers.
Just accept that you will not sit down or read a book.
Yes, your towel will go on the sunlounger, but that’s it. Once it's secured, you will be on your feet until snack time.
You will walk, swim, chase and do that awkward bent-knee squat in the pool when the water’s too deep for kneeling and too shallow to swim.
You will be splashed in the face, required to blow up inflatables, watch the children go down the slide a hundred times, referee the bickering, watch them in the deep end, find goggles and myriad other things.
What you will not get to do is crack open the latest Jonathan Franzen.
Don’t make any plans
Gone are the days of planning a fun vacation itinerary of places to visit, cobbled streets to stroll down, photo ops and lovely little bistros to dine at.
Successful family vacations are far easier when you make no plans apart from arriving at the hotel with all the luggage intact and having avoided a Home Alone-type situation.
Holidays with children mean you never know what might happen. They might get sick or have a tantrum that turns into an all-day bad mood. Alternatively, the weather may not be right and you end up at the waterpark during a downpour.
Unless there are activities that need to be booked in advance, my advice is to loosely make each day’s plans during breakfast each day.
Keep dining casual
Going out for lunch or dinner requires the same arsenal of entertainment you use when dining out at home. But if you want to limit screen time, dining out requires a little additional planning.
Choose family-friendly restaurants designed to accommodate little ones with special menus and an easy-going approach to children running around.
Beachside restaurants are another good idea allowing children to play in the sand or collect shells while you wait for your food to arrive.
If you want to do a little shopping after dinner, avoid dessert at the restaurant and go out for ice cream afterwards. A well-filled cone can buy you at least 20 minutes of uninterrupted retail therapy.
Just don’t forget the wet wipes.
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
Arabian Gulf League fixtures:
Friday:
- Emirates v Hatta, 5.15pm
- Al Wahda v Al Dhafra, 5.25pm
- Al Ain v Shabab Al Ahli Dubai, 8.15pm
Saturday:
- Dibba v Ajman, 5.15pm
- Sharjah v Al Wasl, 5.20pm
- Al Jazira v Al Nasr, 8.15pm
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