6 Tips for Traveling with Small Children That Will Save Your Vacation

Traveling after having kids will never be the same as your single days. How your kids are at home is who they are going to be while traveling. They will still need to cry and have your support no matter where you are. So, take a deep breath and ignore the judgmental looks of strangers. Know that wherever you are, there will always be parents around that will smile at you or even offer a helping hand. 💛 Preparing your kids for what’s to come will also help A LOT. If you are worried about how everything will go, discuss what is going to happen with your children ahead of time. Or, role play with your children. For example, role play waiting in line at the airport, 🛫 having the security agent scan your bags, walking through a metal detector, and so on.

Having a plan and knowing what you want to do is great. But not everything goes according to plan with kids so create a list of things you want to see and do. 📝 Then, decide day by day if it’s something you can manage or something your family is in the mood for that particular day.

Big all-inclusive hotels may have been fun while child-free, but lots of crowds, overstimulation, and little space for play might be hard on the younger ones. Also, you will be always worried about where they are and what might happen to them. Smaller family-friendly hotels or private accommodations with little to no stairs and gated backyards will make your family vacation more relaxed.

Sometimes we want to keep our kids’ schedules and pack everything under the sun to make it happen. Unfortunately, this is a terrible idea. At the end of a long travel day, chances are you will end up carrying at least one kid, so you certainly don’t want to be carrying tons of luggage too. 🧳 Instead, pack as little as possible. The act of traveling itself will mess with your home routines, so trying to keep them all isn’t going to work anyway. It will just lead to frustration and sore arms. Just bring the essentials, basic medicine, their favorite stuffed animal, and something fun and new like stickers or magnetic toys for the journey and leave the rest at home. Kids have an incredible imagination and can find something to play with almost anywhere.

Ok, we know we said pack light, but when it comes to snacks, the more the better. 🍎🫐🥯 Our favorite travel hack for a long road trip is to pack small healthy snacks in pill containers to keep kids happy and occupied in the car or on a plane. This is a win-win.

Your kids might not remember every trip you take, but you will. So take lots of pictures 📸 and make your family travel scrapbooks 📒, print travel photo books and family photo books 📚 so you can share those memories later. You will be glad you did.