We’re going to the Antipodes for two weeks soon, and we’re leaving our 18 month old with his grandparents. This is supposed to be a vacation, dammit, so why am I getting attacks of anxiety and guilt? This will be the first time we’ve left him for such an extended period of time. What if we never make it back?
Why am I being such a goddamned pussy? 
Smart move. Dingos love tender baby Ogres. Just make sure you leave the title, keys, and pink slip with the grandparents.
Presumably you’ve made arrangements for any circumstance in which both of you don’t return home, anyway. 
The little one will probably have a ball. One time my husband and I went on vacation and left our girls with my parents. For weeks after our return we got things like, “Why can’t we have ice cream now? Grandpop lets us have dessert after breakfast.” I was entirely WTF? What happened to the parents I used to have where dessert was maybe fruit after supper if all the vegetables were eaten? They were totally spoiled rotten.
My husband and I took a trip to Peru when our kid was one. The kid had a blast with her Grandparents and they loved having her around.
I will admit that on days that I was not having fun, I would have a little “I miss my baby” cry in the hotel room. But all in all it was a great trip and I am so glad we went.
Don’t sweat it - Ogre Jr. will have a blast being spoiled. I think the distance will make it easier, not harder too - you won’t be as tempted to cut the trip short when you find out he cried for 30 seconds.
And this is first kid, first vacation away from him? Toss some romance your wife’s way. You will almost certainly be amply rewarded. Amply.
Because you’re a dad. Whenever we leave the brood with the Grandparents for a weekend, we feel horribly guilty… until we’ve realized that we were in the car for five minute, and we didn’t have to tell any one to stop touching his brother.
And then we enjoy the rest of the time together.
Enjoy Oz. Bring a jacket, it’s winter there.
Ogre, it’s perfectly natural and a sign that you’ve bonded with your ogreling. The “What if we don’t make it back?” is a sign that you are prudent and have a habit of thinking ahead and looking for snags.
My parents took my younger sister and me to the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962. They left my youngest sister, who was your ogreling’s age, with our grandparents because at that age both the car trip and the endless lines would have been a misery for her. Good enough, right?
Before they left, they updated their wills and bought 2 cemetary plots. They were assured that (and assured us that), in the case that an accident wiped us all out, we could all be buried together, bunk bead style. That might have been overdoing it a tad. If you’re worrying less than this, you’re fine. Expecially for a first separation.
Yeah, we’ve made all the arrangements for his continued care in the remote case that we end up as shark chow. But it’s so depressing.
Ever read In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson? (If not, you might want to wait until after you get back.)
Oh come on, what’s the worst that could happen?
I shouldn’t have said that, should I?
Enjoy yourself! We did the same when my little one was around 3 (I think). Biggest mistake was calling once and talking to him - he was fine, we were a wreck!
We used to do this when our kids were little (wait, we still do - went to Vegas without them this Winter).
The kids think a week with the Grandparents IS vacation. Mine are getting smarter now, but it took YEARS for them to start saying “why can’t we go?”
Separation is good for everyone - and it has to start somewhere. My daughter was at camp three weeks this summer without us. She wouldn’t be there now if we didn’t cut the strings early.
Its good for a marriage to step back without the kids are remind yourselves “oh yeah, we got married because we LIKE each other and have conversations!” Especially when the kids are little and the adult conversation is rare. Don’t leave this part of marriage maintenance out of the plan or you wake up, the kids are gone all the time, and you discover you only had the kids in common for the past eight years.
Enjoy yourselves.
Since we have nothing at all that will kill, poison, maim, hurt, break, destroy or otherwise make you sorry you visited, it’s a shame you’re not bringing the little tacker.
I mean, he can probably outrun a black snake, right? And wouldn’t be at all tempted to pick up the pretty blue octopus. Parenting fail, I tells ya.
Have fun!
Given that his dad (moi) is a field biologist who is far more likely to pick up and examine the pretty little redback spider than to run away, perhaps it’s for the best that he stay home. 
You’re not. You’re being a father. If it makes you feel any better, we left our three for a week while we took a cruise when the youngest was about 18 months. On the morning the ship docked in the Bahamas, we woke up early to a huge unfamiliar grinding noise (thrusters for docking) and the smell of smoke (forest fire on shore). My very first thought was, “The ship is sinking and I’ll never see my babies again!”
You’ll have grownup fun, the Ogreling will have little kid fun with the grandparents, and you’ll be back before you know it. Be prepared for him to want to stay with the people who spoil him.
Enjoy.
It would be a bugger of a long flight for a young child anyway.
There is no shortage of kids here anyway, despite the dingos and sharks.
I know right? No matter how many kids you use for bait, there’s always more.
As a field biologist, you should have heaps of fun here, Ogre. And remember, when you’re here you’re more Southern than anybody. I tell my old Grandaddy that all the time.
You kid will be fine, but you will worry. That’s the way of things. I worry and mine’s 16 AND goes to boarding school. I fight the urge to call him every day, which I am assured is Not Cool Mom. Little one will be fine and you will have a blast. After all your PhD stuff you guys deserve the holiday, so enjoy it.