Mom Shares Her "30 On/30 Off" Vacation Strategy & It Looks Brilliant
It could actually allow you to read your novel in peace.
The problem with vacationing with little kids is that while they might be having a fun, restful, and restorative time, you and your partner might return home even more exhausted than when you left. It can feel like just another day of parenting, except in a place that is unfamiliar and not childproofed. As they say, it can feel less like a vacation and more of a trip.
Now one mom, Rachael Shepard-Ohta (@heysleepybaby on Instagram), might be revolutionizing what vacationing for parents can look like — or at the very least, making it easier to grab a few more minutes of “me” time.
Recently, she posted a video of her latest beach vacation, in which she was actually getting some mommy time. We see her reading the latest Abby Jimenez book, sipping a fancy drink, and watching her husband play with her kids. How is she doing it? Her video overlay shares her strategy:
“My husband and I started the 30 on/30 off rule on vacation so we could actually relax and it’s been life changing,” she wrote.
Down in the caption, she explains how they developed the 30 on/30 off idea and how it works.
“At one point on vacation I looked at him and was like… ‘do we both really need to be here orrrr…? 🏃♀️,” she wrote. We decided to start doing ‘shifts’ for one half of the day, usually morning, where we took turns being on kid duty. One of us got to go hang, read, chill, whatever we wanted — and the other was with the kids. We’d do 30 minutes ‘on’ then switch!”
Brilliant! She goes on to share the details and offer a few different approaches to try, too.
“Sometimes we don’t even go anywhere, we just get to sit back and relax and not be the default parent for a while. My favorite is to just sit and read while watching them play,” she continues.
The she adds a couple of disclaimers.
“We notice this is easier to do on a beach, playground, or indoor play/ nap time situation. Doing 3 kids to 1 adult at a pool doesn’t feel safe to us at this stage, so we would do pool time all together,” she adds.
“Depending on ages and stages 30 min may feel too long or too short! Sometimes my toddler would get upset and want to come find me before my time was up, so my husband would make sure I got another break later,” she continues.
Longer shifts could work better if people want a longer break to do more of an activity.
“Instead of 30 on /30 off, a couple of mornings we may do a longer shift each (like 2 hours) so the other person can have a spa treatment, go workout etc.,” she explained.
“This little shift rule helped us so much because we knew we had built in “breaks” to look forward to,” she concluded. “Traveling with kids is so fun but can be a lot, too, and when we each feel like we’re getting some time to chill and reset we’re less likely to snap at one another.”
We love this.
Down in the comments, reads shared a few of their own ideas, too.
One reader shared that she and her husband trade off sleeping in on the weekends.
“My husband and I have been doing sleep-in weekend days for the last 2-3 years,” she writes. “It’s a gem! On Saturdays he sleeps in and Sundays I sleep in. The parent who doesn’t sleep in does breakfast and the morning cleaning etc and the “sleep-in parent” can sleep, work, do a workout/go grab coffee with a friend etc! It’s worked for us for YEARS.”
Another said they implement 30 on/30 off at parties.
“We have done this at parties,” she writes. “You are on kid duty for 30 minutes and then we would switch and the other could socialize.”
A third person shared how her and her husband takes turns escaping to the hotel bar for a drink.
“My husband and I took turns getting nightcaps on our last vacation together,” she wrote. “Felt wonderful to get to have a cocktail at a nice bar we wouldn’t have experienced otherwise, and it also felt nice to be in a hotel with a sleepy baby before/after.”
There were just a few comments pointing out issues — and all of them mentioned that their kids wouldn’t accept the non-default parent if the default parent was in sight.
“This wouldn’t work for my family.. they only see me,” one mom wrote.
In that case, we recommend getting out of sight completely! Because every parent needs a little down time.
