Mummy blogger shames parents for using hotel ‘kids’ clubs’ on holidays

A MUM has had a go at parents who leave their children at popular hotel kids’ clubs. But one parent is having none of it.

HAVE you ever sipped a poolside cocktail on holiday while your offspring enjoyed some supervised finger painting with pals?

Or perhaps you’ve sneaked back to your hotel room for some “private time” as your child strolled the beach collecting shells with hotel staff?

If so, you should be ashamed of yourself.

That’s the verdict of ultimate sanctimommy Christine Coppa, author of one of the most insanely out-of-touch essays of the year, which she initially published under the pseudonym Laine White, according to the New York Post.

In “Yes, I Judge Parents Who Dump Kids At Hotel ‘Kids Clubs’ During Family Vacations,” on lifestyle website YourTango, the preachy mother-of-one declares war on every parent who takes advantage of on-site child care facilities during their travels.

“Who goes on a family vacation and leaves their kids for hours and hours with complete strangers?” she spits.

Christine Coppa, writing under the pseudonym Laine White, is no fan of kids clubs.

She is horrified to learn that the camp at her hotel accepts children as early as 7am (“Pffffffff.”). How dare parents separate from their flesh and blood on their well-earned holidays!

She takes a break from pouring bile on lesser guardians to wax lyrical about the quality time she spends with her boy: At the pool, “we ... discussed what the clouds looked like: ‘A pineapple!’ ‘Duck, but with cat ears!’ ‘A marshmallow!’” At breakfast, she looks on admiringly: “My son loved art directing his own plate with pink watermelon wedges, crisp bacon, salami, cubes of cheese, and a mound of scrambled eggs.”

Finally, she caps off her rant with paranoid musings. Could those kids be in danger when they’re outside their parents’ care? “What if my son wandered off and no one noticed?” she shrieks. “What if a stranger eyeballed him as a soft target and snatched him — child trafficked him to a land far away like in the movie Taken?”

We’ve got news for you, lady: The movie Taken is just that — a movie. Unless we missed all those headlines about minors being “snatched” from kids’ clubs in Bali while their parents sunbathed wantonly alone.

It’s not a sin to have some kid-free time on holiday. Picture: iStock

The experience of most children in kids’ clubs is not sad, neglected and perilous. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if your son gazes longingly at his peers allowed to splash around at the water park without a helicopter mum monitoring his every move.

I can tell you that on my family’s holidays, my nine-year-old daughter thrives in the club’s sociable atmosphere, worships the counsellors and always begs for more time with her new-found friends.

Heck, on a recent Royal Caribbean cruise, she stayed at the club until 1am one night — at her own insistence.

If that makes me a bad mum in Coppa’s eyes, so be it. Bring on the judgment. At least we all had one of the best holiday of our lives.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission.