tips for happy travel with kids.

my dress. shoes. backpack. sunglasses. necklace.

Ava’s dress. sandals.  Hannah’s jumpsuit. Sandals. similar backpack.

Have you guys ever watched the comedian Jim Gaffigan?  If you don’t, please go watch a few of his specials on Netflix as soon as you’re done reading this post.  He’s hilarious.  Anyway, he’s got this whole bit about taking your kids to Disneyland, I think he says something like, “How can I spend an enormous amount of money, be uncomfortable and listen to my children complain and whine?  Disney!”

But seriously though, doesn’t this kind of feel like all travel with kids?  Expensive and exhausting.  But you know, we do it, because we love our children and we want to show them the world and make memories.  But man, it’s a lot of work!  And the thing that frustrates me the most about traveling with kids, is when you’ve spent all the time, effort, energy and money, and then the kids are kind of grumpy the whole time.  Like, “you are the ones I am doing this for, and you’re just whining the whole time!  I could have gone to Hawaii by myself for half the price!”

Does it really have to be so hard?  Actually, I don’t think so.

  The thing I’ve learned over the years as a mom, is that there are ways to prepare and do a trip so your kids are happy and cheerful pretty much the whole time.

Here are my hard-learned tips for happy travel with kids, I’m sharing them all with you today:

Tips while you’re on the trip:

Don’t over-schedule.  Don’t try to fit too many things into each day of the trip.  Your kids don’t have the same stamina as you and they’re going to wear out faster.  Leave time to stop and play, find some grass and run around, and just rest.  If you are going, going, going all day, you might see more, but slowing down will make what you see a better experience.  And the best memories on a trip are always made in those in-between moments.  Twirling around on the lawn of the mall in D.C. is probably going to be Ava’s favorite memory from our recent trip and that’s fine by me.  The moment was magic for all of us.

Make sure everyone has comfy shoes and clothes.  Think about what you’re doing everyday and make sure you are packed/dressed accordingly.  It’s important that your kids can walk all day in their shoes so make sure you pack the right ones.

Keep their blood sugar up.  Pack snacks or stop for food often.  If your kids get hungry their going to get grumpy.  They don’t need a walking buffet, but keep a little something with you that you can pull out in a pinch.

Just roll with it.  Some things are going to go wrong, just roll with it.  Don’t lose your cool as the parent.  Children can smell stress, so if things aren’t working perfectly just remember its all a memory, so keep positive and turn it into something fun.

Tips for before you travel:

 The best prep for a trip with kids comes long before you ever start packing.  It’s about building stamina in your kids so they can handle the physical and emotional toll of switching up their routine.  You are trying to cultivate tough, well-adjusted kids who can handle having a curve ball thrown at them without melting down.  So here are my top tips for doing that.

Don’t coddle your kids sleep schedule.  Once your babies are properly sleep trained, let them experience sleeping in more difficult circumstances.  If your child can only sleep when they are in their own bed with black-out curtains and a white noise machine, how are they going to function when you’re on a red-eye flight or staying in a hotel in NYC where the noise never stops?  This is a process I start early on and it has saved our lives on the many long drives, red-eye flights, and funky travel/moving circumstances we’ve been in.  Remember that kids are way more resilient than you think.  Give them the chance to show you.  One of the ways to do this is to not have your house be so, so quiet every time they’re going to sleep, let them learn to nap in an unfamiliar place, or in a stroller while you’re walking around the park, etc.  This ability to be flexible with their sleep makes traveling so much easier and happier for all because they can literally fall asleep anywhere in any situation.

Limit screen time.  You guys know I’m a huge advocate for limiting screen time with kids.  We don’t even have cable at our house.  My kids watch maybe one movie a week and they don’t have cell phones/social media.  This has been life-changing for my kids.  Screens are incredibly detrimental to a child’s brain development (google it, there are thousands of articles) but the overstimulation that screens provide is so bad for them.  And here’s the thing, kids that have too much screen time are terrible travelers, because they are so used to being overstimulated, they can’t sit still during a flight, or wait patiently in a museum line, or sit quietly in a restaurant.

Which leads me to:

Let your kids be bored.  Boredom is the best way for kids to develop creativity and learn to self-entertain.  The most magic in childhood happens deep down in the boredom, that’s where the creativity comes to life.  It’s hour 3 on a road-trip when a child turns a cloud into a rhinoceros, a rainy day that turns a couch into a life-raft and carpet into shark-infested waters.  Kids who have been given the space to be bored are more creative and patient, better listeners, and less likely to throw a fit out of boredom. All skills that serve the whole family while traveling.

Build stamina in your kids.  Make sure your kids are getting lots of exercise every day.  Give them opportunities long before you leave for your trip to build stamina.  Take them for walks everyday, and make them walk!   If they’re hungry, make them wait a few minute before they eat.  Let them learn to be okay being a little uncomfortable, so they aren’t melting down in the middle of Arlington or the Louvre or even Disneyland when their feet start hurting and they’re hungry.  If you’ve let them experience those feelings in a controlled way, they learn to deal with being uncomfortable without melting down.

I hope you’ve found these tips for happy travel with kids helpful!  I hope it helps you feel brave enough to get out there and travel with your little ones…

 Make sure you leave yours in the comments to help other mamas out!