Memorial Day weekend starts the official summer vacation season in the USA. For those of us lucky enough to share our vacations with children, here are a few travel tips I've put together over the years. I hope they make your summer vacations a bit less stressful!
Pack kids' suitcases with entire outfits rolled together. Take the pants, shirt, underwear and socks, and roll them up together. Then tuck the outfits in so your child can pull out one complete outfit each day. Saves time, hassle and crying, "But I like green stripes with red checks!"
Pack PJs on top. It's no fun to hunt for them when you're all tired.
If you are flying, and if you can afford it, buy a full seat for younger kids so they don't have to be on your lap.
When booking seats on flights, book your family in windows and aisles with open seats between. Others are unlikely to take the middle seats unless the flight is packed, so you might end up with extra wiggle room. If there is a stranger between you and your child, they will be happy to trade for a window or aisle seat so you and your child can sit together.
On international flights, order children's meals for kids. Don't be afraid to ask for another roll or extra dessert after the meal has been served.
Unless you have long lay-overs, don't bother packing drinks. (Except for babies, of course.) You can get free ones on the flight (usually-- check this out these days) and they are heavy to carry.
Do bring snacks. Apples, beef jerky and carrot sticks leave kids less hungry than candy.
In museums, castles, or other places where you will want to linger and the kids might be bored, try printing off ahead of time Museum Bingo cards, or Castle Bingo, or Whatever Bingo. Things to go in squares could include: Find something green, A person wearing purple, A picture of a cat, A place where you could hide something, Something made of stone, Something you would like in your bedroom, etc. Provide small stickers or a pencil for marking
found items and bring Smarties or a similar prize for Bingo and filled cards. Bring more cards than you have children. We have to drag our kids out of museums when they're playing Bingo.
Mix kid-friendly activities with adult activities. If you've spent the morning shopping in Paris, have a picnic on the grass by the Eiffel Tower and let the kids run around and yell. Don't try to pack too much into one day. You won't enjoy it any more than they do.
Read about the places, history, and things you'll see before you go. Historical fiction, books like Madeline or Chasing Vermeer, encyclopedia articles, etc, can all help kids get excited for the things they'll see, and help them appreciate and understand the experience.
Plan some quiet time into the day. Bedtime stories, morning scripture reading, or classical music after lunch can save everyone's sanity and allow everyone more energy for the other activities.
Books on tape or CD can quiet a car of arguing children more quickly than almost anything else.
Be visibly happy about the new foods, cool places, etc yourself. It's contagious.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Just my unsolicited 2
cents on traveling with kids.
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