Tips for Traveling with Kids

TIPS FOR TRAVELING WITH KIDS

Being together as a family is the most important aspect of why we travel. If we weren’t all doing it together, it wouldn’t be worth doing!

But that’s not to say traveling with kids can’t be tricky sometimes, especially when they’re little.

Through much trial and error over many months of traveling, we have discovered some tips and tricks that help us travel more efficiently and happily. We hope they’ll help you, too!

MANAGE YOUR EXPECTATIONS

This is important for all aspects of life, but particularly when your travel plans involve children. It may be easy to pack, plan and stick to your schedule if you’re traveling solo or as an adult couple, but it just never works out that way with kids in tow. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Manage your expectations and plan with plenty of leeway in your schedule. Otherwise, it’s a recipe for frustration, disappointment and unhappy travels. 

MAKE REALISTIC TRAVEL PLANS

Think about your travel plans from your child’s eyes. They may tolerate a 6 or 8 hour travel day in the car, but what would that really be like for them? Kids are active and need engagement. Their idea of traveling isn’t to see how far they can make it in a day but rather what fun they can find along the way. 

ADD 20% ON TO YOUR ESTIMATED TRAVEL TIME

Traveling with children takes time. A LOT of time. There are unexpected bathroom breaks (or poopsplosions if they’re still in diapers!), snack breaks, get out and play breaks, I lost my toy under the seat and I need you to get it breaks. Every time you stop, it adds a considerable amount of time onto the trip and if it happens multiple times (which it will) that time really adds up! 

Plan ahead and account for these unexpected times. Worst case scenario, it took you as long as you planned. Best case scenario, few or none of these things happen to you. Then, you can arrive a little ahead of schedule or fit in another stop or activity you wanted to do. 

TAKE REGULAR BREAKS

Scheduling in breaks for bathroom stops, eating and just getting out to stretch also helps to cut down on the unexpected or undesirable stops. 

Instead of waiting for the kids to say they’re hungry (as they’re getting hangry), plan to stop before that happens and nip this problem in the bud. Same goes for bathroom breaks. 

If you plan to stop every 2 hours for everyone to use the rest stop, you will have considerably less of those moments where someone is yelling out that they have to go right now but there are no rest stops to be found!

TRY TO STAY ON SCHEDULE

These first few tips sort of tie together. Once you make your schedule (which already has built in time for the unexpected!), try your best to stick to it. If you plan for a 30 minute break for everyone to get out and stretch their legs, try to keep it to 30 minutes, don’t let it run over into an hour. 

PACK PLENTY OF SNACKS

Hanger is real. Pack enough snacks for everyone and do your best to make them healthy ones. No one is on top of their game if they’ve been eating Cheetos and candy bars all day long. Pack a small cooler in the car or pick health items that don’t need to be cooled. Think fresh fruits, nuts, yogurt, water. 

BRING CAR FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES

Boredom can make a kiddo unhappy in no time. Bring activities they can easily do in the car and try to bring a wide variety. They will get bored if they have to do the same thing every day. While our daughter does occasionally watch Mickey Mouse on the iPad (and no, we are not proud of this), she also loves the other activities we provide. 

We bring items like mess-free coloring books, wikki stix, doodle pads, a learning pad, favorite stuffed animal. We also have a car seat desk for her so she has a surface on which to use and play with her toys. 

CHOOSE CAMPGROUNDS WITH KID FRIENDLY AMENITIES

We want our kids to look forward to traveling and one of the easiest ways to achieve this is to make sure the places we are going have things they enjoy doing. For our daughter, her number one request is that the campground has a nice playground. It doesn’t matter where we are, if there’s a swing and slide, she’s good! Having a pool to go swimming is a close second…. 

CHOOSE DESTINATIONS WITH ACTIVITIES FOR EVERYONE

It’s important to plan destinations with everyone in mind. Not everyone likes to do the same things but everyone should still feel that they had value from the trip. 

Josh likes to hike. Shannon likes to explore towns. Olivia likes water activities and animals. Bailey likes long walks and obviously enjoys places that are dog friendly. So, we try to choose places that can offer a wide range of different activities. 

No matter where we are, everyone gets time to do the things they enjoy. 

DIVIDE AND CONQUER

And lastly, our #1, most important tip… divide and conquer! 

Kids, especially little ones, don’t always cooperate or want to help with the boring tasks associated with traveling. 

On travel days, one of us takes the kids to play at the playground while the other person packs up the RV. Sometimes we switch. Shannon will get the inside ready while Josh takes the kids to the playground, then Shannon will stay with them at the playground while Josh dumps the tanks and finishes the exterior chores. 

Sometimes dividing and conquering means doing different activities throughout the day. Maybe Olivia doesn’t feel like hiking. Instead of dragging her along and having her be unhappy, sometimes its better that Josh and Bailey hike while Shannon and Olivia go get ice cream or go to the zoo. 

Travel is about happiness, exploration and compromise. 

TRAVELING WITH KIDS IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS YOU CAN DO AS A FAMILY. WE HOPE THESE TIPS FOR TRAVELING WITH KIDS HELP TO MAKE IT A LITTLE EASIER AND MORE ENJOYABLE!

 

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