Traveling With Young Children: Dos and Don'ts

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

30 Jan 2007 12:56 AM

We just returned from spending the last few weeks traveling with a two-year-old and 6 month-old. We took a multi-family vacation to multiple Hawaiian Islands (I have family living on four of the five major Hawaiian Islands). It was a wonderful adventure that gave me the chance to practice some of the travel lessons I've learned on past trips.

Here are some of my favorite dos and don'ts to follow when traveling with young children:

DO understand the value of distraction, distraction, distraction! Bring along lots of toys and plan on introducing them to your child one at a time-typically, when the previous one gets boring. Get some affordable, sanity-saving ideas for travel toys by clicking here.

DO be as organized as possible. I'm not saying to plan every minute of your trip. I am merely suggesting adhering to your child's daily routine as much as possible. For example, stay as close as possible to your normal routine in terms of meal times and sleeping times. Even with a four-hour time difference, our toddler daughter ate and slept at approximately the same time each day (we simply made accommodations for the time difference; meaning at home she takes a nap at 1:00 p.m.-in Hawaii she did the same).

DON'T plan long car trips around the driver's schedule. If you are planning to make a 6-hour car trip to grandma's house you may be tempted to leave first thing in the morning while you are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. This is the worst time of the day to leave if you are traveling with an active toddler. Instead, spend the morning running your child ragged in preparation for the journey. Most toddlers take one long afternoon nap---take advantage of it. We normally leave on our long hauls just after lunch, which is right around our daughter's normal naptime.

DON'T ever stop the vehicle when a child is sleeping. My brother did not plan ahead (see DO #2) and had to stop the car to refuel. As soon as he pulled into the service station his 6-month-old son woke up and cried for the next 20 minutes. Lesson learned. It may sound obvious, but it is vital (to me anyway) to take full advantage of a child's nap when traveling. That means I make sure everyone has used the bathroom before getting into the car.

Check back for more travel do's and don'ts in future blogs.

Related Articles:

Traveling With Children-Learn From My Mistakes

Flying with Children: Layover or Not?

Tips To Remember When Traveling With Children

Flying With An Infant

Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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