Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. We paid for our vacation(s). I’m a wannabe #BeachesMom. Beaches, if you are reading this, hit me up!
For those of you who have done it, you know that international travel with young children is not always the easiest experience. Between the harried packing, the early alarms, piling into the taxi or trying to find airport parking in a decent location, the cranky and tired voices, the sleeping toddler in the stroller that *has* to be removed when going through security, and going into unknown surrounds, a meltdown is not too far away.
Thankfully for parents who are traveling to the world class and award winning Beaches Resort in Turks and Caicos, they are going to a resort for families, not just a resort that happens to have a childcare or kids’ clubs and adults-only restaurants. Where you stay while you are on vacation makes a difference in the enjoyment and sanity of the family and I should know, we travel for leisure with our kids a few times a year! When I travelled as a singleton or with friends, I was always looking to be in the middle of the action and the hotel was simply a place to rest my head. When I am travelling with my kids, I am not thinking that they have to be entertained, I am thinking that we all want to have an enjoyable experience together and that’s what we find in Turks and Caicos at the Beaches Resort.
First and foremost, Beaches in Turks And Caicos caters to all types of families and although we have just travelled as our family of four with friends there a couple times, I can see this resort being a good fit for multi-generational family trips too!
Here’s what we find to be really cool: If the adults want to have a little romantic alone time on the beach or in the pool, eat at Sky Lounge or go have cocktails after dinner without the children, they can do that! How? Well, Beaches is known for it’s Sesame Street kids programs, so if there is an Elmo or Cookie Monster fan in your family, than put this on your agenda!
The programs are divided up by age groups. The couple times we have been there, my son has been enrolled at Camp Sesame which is the care facility for children up to the age of four. Did I write “up to”? Yes I did–they take infants as well. Then the tots are further divided by infants, toddlers (aged one to two and a half years old) and the three and four year olds so they are grouped with others in their age group.
I’ll be honest – I was so nervous and hesitant the first time I dropped my son off there when we were heading out for dinner! I didn’t know any of these people, he wasn’t even two years old and we were in a foreign country! I was quickly put at ease by learning that all nannies and Kids Camp staff at Beaches Resort are members of the International Nanny Association and to become accredited, each nanny has to meet a minimum of 2,000 hours of child care services. I was met with a warm smile and staff who really wanted to engage with my son and make him comfortable. The rooms were bright, filled with lots of toys and books and size appropriate tables and chairs. And get this–Camp Sesame even has a fenced in play area that includes a cute little wading pool, pool toys, sandy play area and has kids sized beach chairs (non-toilet trained children must have swim diapers). For the children who nap, there was a separate darkened room with cribs.
Camp Sesame runs during the day, is closed for an hour at early dinner time and then opens back up again at 6:00pm and will take the little ones for dinner. FOR REAL! You can pick up and drop off anytime in that window during the day. Now, they aren’t open all night, so don’t get any wacky ideas Mom and Dad, but you can go and have a civilized dinner and dessert and drinks. And conversations.
Kids ages five and over like my daughter and her friend when we went, go over to Pirate Island. Yeah, I know – that sounds rough, right? Drop them off across from the water park at the resort. Yep, face painting, the Xbox Play Lounge Lounge and pizza making?! Picking the girls up was always met with “you’re here already? Can you come back later please?”
Did I mention that all of these kids activities are included in the cost of the vacation? Beaches makes it so easy for families to enjoy themselves by not having to carry around wallets and passports–just lock them away after you have checked in and registered the children at the Camp Sesame desk.
Worry free? My family is so in. Check out the fun we had in 2016 here:
