My 8 top tips for travelling with children
Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant
Bucket and spade
I had one of my first experiences of travelling with children right at the very start of my career. It was with 8-month-old twins, a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old. I vividly remember the sheer volume of ‘stuff’ that we had to pack - anyone would have thought we were going to live in a desert for months, with no access to shops or even running water! We were in fact going to Cyprus where it was of course completely possible to buy anything and everything we needed! From that point on I started to accumulate various hints and tips for travelling with children to make it easier for the families, the children (and for me!) and I have written about some of them in this blog. When travelling with children it always feels that you need to pack to cover every eventuality, which of course you do, to some extent, but it isn’t ever as much as you think (unless you really are going to stay in a desert!).
Toddler playing in the sand
1. Before you go, use new things that you have bought to take with you. Travel can bring on the unknown for us all and very often it heightens stress in all concerned. When we have a routine and familiarity, we feel more secure and relaxed. So, think about the things that provide familiarity for both you and your children – for example, if you are going to be using a new bag for your hand luggage, try using for a couple of weeks before you are due to travel. This way you can get used to it and start to work out what fits best in which sections – don’t use it for the first time when you are travelling as you won’t be able to find things quickly and easily! If you have purchased new attachments for the pram or even something like new sun cream, try them out before you leave for the holiday, so you know that they work and that there are no allergic reactions to the sun cream etc.
2. Move timings slightly to help with jet lag. If you are going to do a long-haul trip with your children, it will help you all to prepare for the time difference a week or so in advance. If you are going to a country where the time difference is going to be over 4 hours, it will help to move your child’s routine slightly up to 5 days before you fly. For example, if you move the timings of things like mealtimes, the bed time routine etc by 15 minutes each day, you can be looking at being nearly 2 hours closer to the time at your destination, which will mean that it is not such a shock to the system when you need to make the final change on arrival.
3. The journey. To help toddlers or older children understand what is going to happen, make or draw a picture plan for the younger children and more of a detailed plan for the older children, of what is going to be happening when you go on journey and get to your destination. You could even make it into an activity to do together. When planning your journey make sure that you schedule regular breaks if you are driving and, for example, give yourselves plenty of time to get to the airport so that you are not feeling time pressured. Airports can be fun and interesting places so maybe planning a ‘can you find’ game which you can do whilst in the airport will help with the wait but will also get your little ones moving before they have to sit for the flight. This will help reduce the stress levels and minimise any impact on your children and their behaviour.
4. Organise your packing. Put a full set of clothes including nappies etc in one zip lock or see through bag in your hand luggage so that you are not rummaging through the bag to find the different items – pull one bag out and you will have it all to hand! The same thing can apply to putting toys in one bag, nappies and wipes in another etc. which again will help you to find things easily when you are in the car, train or plane! Also, don’t forget to pack an extra outfit for you too…just in case! Children can experience more sickness when their routine is changed (which travel tends to do) and very often you will be in the line of fire, so it is always best to be prepared! In your main packing, split things across all of your suitcases so that in the worst-case scenario one case is lost or delayed you still have a couple of outfits each, and enough snacks/formula etc to get you through until it is returned!
5. Keep things familiar. Take things with you that remind your children of home - this can be particularly useful with young children for when they are sleeping. If you plan on using a cot which is supplied by the hotel, villa or caravan, take some of the cot sheets that you use at home. These sheets will smell of home and help with familiarity which in turn will help with your little one relaxing into their normal sleep pattern. (if your little one has only been used to sleeping in a cot and you will be using a travel cot when away, as point 1 explains, make sure you try a couple of nights in the travel cot before you go!). If your child has a particular comforter, make sure that you take a couple of these with you. You don’t want to lose the only one you have or worse still have your child being sick on the journey with the only comforter you have being in the firing line! Also think about taking familiar toys but also cups and bottles. You can get lots of travel options which are sold for ease etc but if your child has not had them before or doesn’t like them when you get on holiday it could be an unnecessary stress for you all.
6. Do your research before you go. Depending on where you are staying you will need to do different types of research. For example, if you are going self-catering then you will need to know what amenities that you have close by; are you able to arrange a delivery of food and supplies to be there when you arrive so to save having to go out after a long journey? If you are abroad and you will be eating in a resort, check what they have in place for children especially in relation to food and activities. If you have a baby you need to check out what the situation is in relation to drinking water, do they supply ‘baby safe water’ or is this something that you will need to go out and source. Have a look at things to do for children in the local area as well as transport links for getting around. If you need to hire a car make sure that car seats, suitable for the ages of your children, are also supplied.
7. Keep to routine as much as you can. Children need routine in order to feel safe and secure so keeping to a routine as much as possible helps your children to feel more relaxed. If your children are used to having a bath each evening, then try to carry on doing this while you are away – even if it means going out for dinner after the bath, it will still help with them to settle off to sleep in a pushchair or just on a chair in the restaurant. If you use things like white noise machines or sleeping bags etc, make sure that you can take these with you and that they are appropriate for the climate that you are travelling to. Mealtimes and nap/sleep times are the key way that you set your child’s body clock so, where possible, get into the routine of 3 meals per day and replicate the routine you would have at home with food and timings as much as you can. This will then help with settling for naps and night time sleep if these things are similar.
8. Remember, holidays as a family are going to be different! The holidays that you will have experienced as a couple or even when you have been on holiday with friends are going to be very different to the holidays that you have with your children. You will be ‘shade-bathing’ rather than sunbathing, you might not be able to stay out until late in the evening and leisurely evening meals might not be as frequent. However, you will be having some amazing experiences as a family, spending quality time together and making memories! Plan for the ages of your children and try to make sure that if you have a mixture of ages that where you go caters for them all! Some resorts will have ‘kids clubs’ so it is worth finding out the ages that children can go from and to and also the times of the day that they have activities going on so that you can plan around this and hopefully having an hour or two for yourself. Also have a plan for making sure that you are sharing the load with your partner or other people on holiday with you, for example can you agree that you take it in turns each day to take the little ones back to the room for a nap so that the other one gets to enjoy some time by the pool or to go for a walk. This will help you get some time to yourself to relax and hopefully then come home feeling like you have had a holiday! :-)
While you are here we have lots more blogs on various topics which you can find here, as well as our downloadable webinars on topics such as behaviour and emotions, sleep and toilet training. You also might like to read our blog How do I help my baby / child with jet lag?
Don’t forget that we offer parent consultations should you need support with anything from sleep to behaviour and so much more! Details of the packages we offer can be found here.
We also have a podcast - ‘Newborn to Teen and Everything in Between’ - listen here.
Children playing in the sea by some rocks