Traveling with a Young Child
When it comes to traveling with children, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. Beyond all the checklists of what needs to get packed, anxiety is high with the actual traveling portion of the trip and then powering through excursions or daily activities.
We quickly learned that if we want to enjoy our vacations, we need to plan our trips around what our child is capable of doing. We can’t force her into the trip we want to take because, otherwise, we will be miserable. That means we can’t take tours that involve too much walking, activities that aren’t stroller friendly (if she’s still using a stroller), or activities that will mess up her nap schedule. When planning your trip, you have to change your expectations of the trip. If you want to do a trip that involves strenuous all-day activities, that is a trip you’ll have to take without the kids or wait until they are older.
Routine, Routine, Routine
Children thrive on routine — that’s why at home parents typically stick to a nap schedule, feeding time, and bed time. Trying to plan your trips around those times, if you’re able to, is incredibly helpful.
Flights
If there are multiple options when it comes to booking flights, try to book a flight during nap time or during bed time. That way, you have a higher likelihood of them sleeping on the plane and passing the time with more ease (we are also not above giving our child Benadryl before the flight and/or making them run endlessly around the concourse before boarding the plane so they’re good and tired. Don’t worry, we have our pediatrician’s blessing).
Because we booked flights around the sleep schedule, we naturally and unintentionally built in a routine/expectation that before she can play, snack, etc she needs to sleep. Therefore, we’d get ourselves all calm and situated and then take a nap. Once she had officially napped or rested, then for the remainder of the flight could be used to do the activities we brought for the plane.
Day Activities
When it comes to planning day trips and excursions, plan around the sleep schedule. When we went to Disney, we broke the day into two parts. We spent the morning at Disney Land and then we went back to our Air Bnb for a nap time (the adults appreciated this time as well). This also allows you to squeeze in lunch or snacks if you want that are much cheaper! After nap time, we returned to Disney Land for part two of our day. We were able to stay later because our child wasn’t exhausted and we weren’t dragging her out of the park as she had a melt down — something we witnessed many other parents were having to deal with.
When we have booked tours, we have been very mindful of how long the tours are and are cognizant of how much walking the tour description includes. My child is not capable of walking for 6 hours. I am not capable of carrying her for 6 hours and I don’t want to mess with a stroller. So we booked tours and activities that were short and doable. We still enjoyed the activities and they were even more delightful because our child wasn’t kicking and screaming because she had reached her threshold.
We tried to stay as close to her normal routine as possible. It kept our day predictable and manageable.
What to Pack?
For the plane, I try to ensure we have plenty of snacks. Some moms use the “snackle box” that has little compartments for a variety of goodies (I don’t use that because of the effort it takes to repack the box for the return flight). This serves as a form of entertainment/distraction as well as keeping them satiated between long stretches (don’t forget to pack enough snacks in your other suitcase for the trip back home). It’s far cheaper to pack extra snacks and it’s convenient to have them on hand for day activities and time in the hotel to hold them over before the next meal.
Additionally, I like to get some cheap new items that can only be opened once we are on the plane. These items can involve things like coloring books, travel-sized games, activity books, polly pocket, etc. This way they are excited to play with the new toys. We also insisted on not being those parents but did cave and allowed our child to use an iPad on the plane — we pre-downloaded educational games and approved episodes and movies (don’t forget to make sure everything is charged ahead of time). This was also something she could utilize when it was time to wind down in the hotel.
If traveling on a long flight, I highly recommend purchasing an inflatable footrest. This way, your child can stretch out and sleep on the plane without having to lay across your laps. This gives you some breathing room on the plane. Additionally, we allowed her to bring one small stuffed animal and a very thin blanket that was easy to pack. The stuffed animal served as a pillow on the plane and a sense of comfort when it was bed time.
Because the plane doesn’t get that dark or because of time changes, having a sleep mask is a great tool to have on hand.
Traveling can be stressful and feel entirely overwhelming. If you’re traveling by yourself with the kids, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Flight attendants are more than happy to hold your baby while you excuse yourself to the bathroom. People are more than happy to help you put your luggage in the overhead compartment or open doors for you. I noticed that sometimes traveling by myself with my child was almost easier because strangers saw a mother in distress and were happy to help.
If your child happens to have a meltdown on the plane or wherever, don’t worry about what anyone else is thinking. We only have so much control and kids will be kids. If others are bothered by it, that’s their own problem. You don’t have enough energy to be responsible for how strangers feel. Remember to stay present and enjoy the memories you are making on your travels and do what you have to do to keep your own sanity.
