Traveling With Kids

If you are traveling with kids, it's important to follow a few tips to ensure a happy and safe trip.

Take a Deep Breath
You're planning a getaway. A vacation, possibly, a visit to the in-laws or a distant wedding. And you'll be traveling with kids; not just any kids, but your kids. You know them, the ones who scream like you've just bitten them when you're at the supermarket and ask your elderly neighbor how old she was when she grew her moustache.  The very idea of taking those same children to the airport, a place full of opportunities for your little darlings to create a scene, makes you consider staying home and re-wallpapering your living room. Alas, sunshine, grandparents and brides await, and you must pack up your brood and hit the road.

Traveling with kids doesn't have to be the stuff of nightmares. The key to traveling with kids, and this cannot be stressed enough, is to keep them busy. That will make the traveling part of traveling with kids go much more smoothly. Here are some other tips to traveling with kids.

Pack Carefully When Traveling with Kids
Packing is an art form, and even more so when traveling with kids. Depending on their age, kids need a variety of items, and the younger they are, the more they seem to need. This can make traveling with kids heavy, literally, but with careful planning, your luggage needn't be.

Bring only what you truly need for your trip. Clothes take up a lot of space, as children tend to spill things on themselves. Pack clothes in coordinating colors so that you're not spending precious time digging through suitcases looking for the only shirt that matches those pink and green striped pants. Look into whether the place you'll be staying has a washing machine, and bring along some laundry detergent. You can throw a load in to the wash before you hit the hotel pool and have it dry by the time your kids fingers are wrinkly little prunes.

Odds and Ends of Traveling with Kids
Scissors are another rarely thought of but often useful tool to pack. Scissors can be used to cut itchy tags off of novelty tee shirts, open annoying plastic casing around camera batteries and even be used to cut a small child's food when a knife is not available.

As a parent you probably carry hand sanitizer with you anyway, but make sure you don't forget it. The world can be a dirty place, and little fingers like to explore it (and then little mouths like to taste those little fingers). Also, don't forget medicines like Tylenol or batteries.

Get Little Ones to Help
Have your kids carry some of their own belongings. Children love to feel grown-up, and part of being grown-up is being helpful. Pack a small backpack for them containing some of their toys, diapers and a change of clothes. Another way to get kids involved is to give them choices. For example, you could let them decide between dinner at two different restaurants or what sight you'll see next.

Traveling with kids has the ability to make everything seem more exciting.  Kids really get into trips, and you can take advantage of that.  When traveling with kids have them do some light research on the area you'll be visiting before you go.  Suggest that they pick out places they want to see, and get some fun books to read about the destination.  Make it fun, not like homework, and your children may be surprised at how much they learn.

Flying, Driving - Time Accordingly When Traveling With Kids
If it's possible, limit layovers on flights and try to avoid flying during the busiest parts of the day. Also, whether flying or driving, try to plan your trip around kids nap times. When traveling with kids in the car, leave either an hour or two before nap time or, better yet, bedtime, if you can stay awake to drive. Your kids will be able to keep themselves busy for an hour until bedtime, and then will (hopefully) sleep for the duration of the trip. When traveling with kids by plane, choose a flight that coincides with nap time or a red-eye. Careful, though, on those overnight flights. If your kids don't sleep, neither will anyone else on the plane.

Traveling With Kids: Flying
You should always buy seats for your children, even very small ones.  A child in your lap may sound convenient and economical, but in the case of severe turbulence, your child becomes your airbag.  The US Federal Aviation Administration and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend using a car seat when traveling with kids under 40 pounds.  Many airlines charge just half price for children under two years of age.

Take advantage of pre-boarding when traveling with kids. Instead of getting kids onto the plane early though, use this opportunity to send one parent ahead, loaded down with strollers and bags. They can set up while the other parent remains in the terminal, letting kids run off any excess energy. Use this time to make any last-minute diaper changes also, as airplane bathrooms are very small.

Busy Bees
The more children have to do the lower your chances of having to listen to-or worse, sing along with-"99 Bottles of Coke on the Wall." 

Music is a great way to pass time when traveling with kids.  You can get some family-friendly CDs for the car or bring individual music players so that your fourteen year-old son isn't complaining about listening to Hannah Montana again. 

Portable DVD players make hours fly by.  You can watch a favorite DVD or use one of the new services, such as Netflix, which allow you to download movies to your laptop to watch.

Activity books also help time go quickly when traveling with kids. You can find them for nearly any age group.  Games such as Mad Libs can be fun for the whole family to play. Try bringing brown paper bags and art supplies and making puppets when traveling with kids. These are fun to play with afterward. 

Fueling Up When Traveling With Kids
Make sure you're stocked up on healthy eats such as fresh fruit to keep children satisfied and busy.  Avoid sugary snacks to prevent a sugar rush and then the inevitable crash.  Sugar makes kids cranky in the end, and when traveling with kids, cranky is bad (actually, cranky is always bad).