Traveling with children can stretch most people’s patience.  However, with a little extra planning and some imagination the family vacation can be more enjoyable for everyone.  Here are some tips to help you get started.

Make Sure You Have Everything You Need.  Realizing that you forgot a crucial item 3 hours away from home just adds to your stress and decreases the amount of patience you'll have for later.  To help you out, feel free to use our printable packing list with 4 columns for each member of the family.

Fun Travel Bags:  For older children (6 and up), you can make the following into a personalized travel bag for each child that can not be opened until you are “on the road”.  With younger children, pack the essentials in a plastic container that can double as a bathtub in a pinch.

Snacks and drinks:  Nothing makes a trip twice as long as a hungry and/or thirsty child.  Some ideas are as licorice, chips, pretzels, fruit roll-ups, cookies, crackers, gummy bears and trail mix.  Make sure you include juice boxes and a water jug with glasses with you too. 

Entertainment:  Once you are sure that everyone will be well fed, you can find other things to occupy the little ones’ time.  Some ideas include coloring books, blank paper and crayons/markers, with old cookie sheets or a hard board to work on.  Books. A couple favorite stand-bys with some new ones mixed in can fill in a couple of hours and for bedtime.  Also, a simple deck of cards and a hard flat surface covered with felt will go a long way with older children.  And don’t discard the value of simple hand held electronic games.

Plan to Include Some Healthy Foods:  Eating healthy makes everyone feel better.  Bring along some healthy foods that the family enjoys.  Take care to do as much of the prep work in advance as you can.  For example, peel oranges at home and wrap them in plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out.

Allow Your Children to Help You Plan:  Older children can choose the toys, books and music they want to bring along.  Encourage them to research where you are going.  The internet can provide maps, other cultures, weather, etc.  This can help children prepare the different tastes, cultures and customs.   They can also go over the route with you and help you choose any side diversions along the way.  This way they have something else to look forward to that isn’t only the end destination.  It also empowers the children which both gives them a sense of control and encourages them to try to help you on the trip, since it’s their trip too.  

Make Frequent Stops:  Include rest stops in your itinerary.  The side diversions give them a chance to release some stored energy, and give you a chance to smell the roses on the way.  By allowing everyone a chance to recharge, the getting there can also be fun.  On plane trips, encourage the children to move around in layovers, and use the opportunity to explore the airports.

Play Family Games:  The ones you played as a child are still fun and new to them.  For example, find a license plate from every province or state, find each letter of the alphabet in order from signs and license plates, twenty questions, or “I’m going on a picnic” games.  Check the travel section of book stores offer more ideas.

Other must haves:  A marker pen, scissors, scotch tape, nail clippers, a stain-treating stick, a familiar toy, a small pillow and blanket, a small flashlight, a box of wet wipes and a few small towels.

Bottles: When traveling with a bottle-fed infant, fill each bottle with the required amount of water at the beginning of the day and then add the formula at each feeding.  This way you won’t have to refrigerate the bottles.  To easily heat the bottle, fill a wide-mouthed thermos half way with hot water and place bottle in thermos to warm baby's bottle.

Restrooms:  Hotel lobbies and hospitals often have large restrooms that are frequently cleaned, with generally lots of seating nearby and pay phones.

Airline Travel - Strollers: Umbrella strollers will often fit in the plane’s overhead compartment.  By bringing it on board with you, you have immediate access to a stroller and you don’t have to worry about losing it with you luggage.

If you take your regular stroller with you, check it at the gate.  The stroller will be unloaded and returned to you at your arrival gate, to decrease the chances it will get lost.  By checking it at the gate, you can also use it during layovers.

Airline Travel – Altitude Adjustment: Always warning the children to expect it, so they are not afraid when their ears pop during take off and descent.  Older children can be helped with gum and suckers; younger children with juice, soothers (pacifiers), or a bottle.

Hands Free Solution: Instead of a purse, choose a fanny pack or small backpack.  This keeps you valuable documents close to you, but keeps your hands free.  The backpack can also double as a diaper bag.

Never unbuckle This is always good rule to remind yourself about before you leave home.  It is important to always enforce the seat belt rule, regardless how much the child whines or begs to have it off for “just one minute”.  If it becomes too much, it may be sign that another rest stop break needs to be closer than we previously thought.

And remember – this is your vacation that you have planned, saved, toiled and sweated for to enjoy with them – SO HAVE FUN!

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