I remember the exact moment when March Break became a real holiday. It was 1:30 p.m. on Monday, March 13, 2000, at Night Heron Park on Kiawah Island, near Charleston, S.C.
We parents were nervously returning to where, at 8:30 that morning, we had enrolled our then six- and eight-year-old kids in the resort's day camp. Nervous, because we had been down this unhappy road before: The kids wanted no part of another March Break day camp, which they associated with disease and suffering and life-threatening boredom.
There is a stage in family life when the so-called family holiday is oxymoronic. One year, unable to take holidays during the school break, we tried a community centre day camp; both kids immediately got vicious colds and had to stay home. Another year, we took them skiing in Quebec's Eastern Townships, but it rained so hard every day the chairlifts were shut down. The camp at a Mexican all-inclusive was, by the kids' account, so cruelly dull that they feared for their lives. I understood because the entire resort had the same effect on me.
Three March Breaks, three unmitigated disasters.
But that day in 2000, the kids who were dubious in the morning were excited in the afternoon, introducing us to their new friends, to their bosom-buddy counsellors and to the learned naturalist who had showed them a baby alligator.
We pried them away from the camp only after promising they could come back the next day, and the day after that.
Hallelujah. The kids were having fun, and without that, Kiawah would not have worked. No family holiday, no matter where you go, works unless your kids are happy there. So with their unadulterated enthusiasm, our kids said: This is the place.
From friends who have been lucky enough to find joy at March Break, the story is the same: Skiing in Utah, beachcombing in the Bahamas … something about a place resonates with your kids making the destination a success. The experience for our kids was exotic and independent, and they wanted more. At camp, they dug for clams, collected shells, waded in the surf, explored the marshes and goofed around a lot, their excursions guided by energetic young counsellors who were, we were told, cool.
We weren't cool, of course, but we were content. After all, we had Kiawah's two tennis complexes, five golf courses, network of bike paths, swimming pools and 15 kilometres of glorious beach at our disposal, not to mention two lounge chairs on the sunny deck back at our villa.
With less and less guilt as the week wore on, we spent mornings playing tennis and golf and reading without interruption. Afternoons and evenings were family time.
Though the kids made it theirs, it wasn't entirely their call. You do a lot of spade work before you get there, looking for affordability, fair weather and recreational opportunities for all ages. We tried Kiawah because it was accessible by car, saving airfares and car-rental costs, and it's 40 minutes from Charleston, a city with fascinating history, architecture and culture, and a terrific aquarium for rainy-day outings.
Kiawah itself has a dozen restaurants at various price points, and a gourmet supermarket right outside the main gate. The resort boasts The Sanctuary, a Mobil five-star hotel, and you can rent vast beach houses if you need 10,000 square feet to feel comfortable. But there are affordable villas to rent for families like ours – the sun and surf come at no extra charge. The island, a long, narrow slip of sand anchored by arching live oaks and those zillion-dollar homes, is captivatingly beautiful, and you're never more than a few minutes from that amazing beach on one side and the wildlife-rich salt marsh on the other.
The week flew by, we had a blast and, as we drove off the island to begin the long ride north, the kids were in the back seat planning the next year's trip. In no particular order, they said they loved the villa, the bike rides on the beach, the waffle fries out at the Ocean Course clubhouse and the camp. Other family destinations could vary, they told us, but March Break was no longer negotiable.
So for coming up on 11 trips now, Kiawah has been like the kitchen wall where the kids mark their height – a backdrop that reveals how much they've grown and changed in a year. It has been the scene of some milestone moments too. During that first trip, out on the beach at low tide, our daughter learned to ride a bike; in year five, the golf-mad son broke 80 for the first time.
Other friends with kids soon started to come along. We'd rent neighbouring villas or share houses, and we became much closer friends in that vagabond community every March, parents and children alike. Something special happened there.
Long past their day-camp days, the kids still loved what for them was an annual, all-ages, week-long sleepover. There was always something in particular that they'd remember about each trip. The villa overlooking a lagoon with four resident gators. The spooky late-night ghost tour of old Charleston. Paddling kayaks on the Kiawah River accompanied by bottlenose dolphins.
My son's now in university and the end's in sight for this March family holiday thing. But future Februarys aren't out of the question. At dinner the other night, my daughter was looking ahead, plotting to rent a house on the island and reunite the Kiawah kids during her first university reading week.
They'll probably go on their own, which is as it should be. It's their place.
I wonder, though, if they'll miss us.
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Getting there
Charleston International Airport is 35 minutes from Kiawah. There are no direct flights from Canada; in late winter, it is better to connect through a southern hub such as Charlotte than through weather-challenged Chicago or Washington. By car, Kiawah is a 15-hour (give or take) drive south of Toronto.
Where to stay
Kiawah Island Golf Resort Kiawah Island, S.C.; 800-576-1570; www.kiawahresort.com. Spring rates for rooms start at $425 a night; spring rates for well-furnished, two-bedroom villas start at $207 a night (weekly rates are also available).
What to do
For an active vacation, there are basketball courts, soccer fields, tennis centres and five golf courses, including the truly magnificent Ocean Course (the resort's courses are very accommodating to kids). Dining options range from Shrimpers, a low-country pub at West Beach, to the very-high-end Ocean Room at the Sanctuary. The Ryder Cup Bar at the Ocean Course, overlooking the beach and the 18th green, is one of the world's great places to watch the sun set.