More than 2,000 fines were issued to parents in Wales last year because their children were missing school.
Some councils used hundreds of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) to tackle absences, although others did not issue any, figures showed.
One mum, Ebony Mullen from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, said schools should be flexible as some parents could only afford holidays during term time.
Welsh government guidance said fines should only be used as a last resort.
Most councils stopped using FPNs altogether over the Covid pandemic and numbers are still lower than in 2018-19. That is despite concern absences are at "crisis" levels.
In the 2022-23 academic year, the number of fines issued by different local authorities ranged from zero to 481, according to figures obtained through freedom of information requests.
The overall total was at least 40% lower than the figure for 2018-19 - the last full year before the pandemic
