Traveling With Kids How To Keep Your Sanity

 

Fall Break is upon us and everyone this making plans to possibly go on a trip with the family. Are you going to be traveling with kids? 

I am no stranger to traveling with kids. We have traveled by truck pulling a 5th wheel camper, by single vehicle and by plane. 

It can be apprehensive when thinking about traveling a long destination with kids. But it doesn't have to send your anxiety through the roof. All it takes is careful planning and I would suggest don't wait until the last minute. 

First I would start by getting the vehicle prepped and ready. Most important is maintenance your vehicle. Get the oil and tires checked. Get an oil change if need be. Make sure everything is safe and in working order. Many plans have fell through because someone has started out on a trip and something has happened to their vehicle. Flat tire, low oil that caused engine trouble or radiator over heating. There is nothing more stressful than being stranded on the side of the road with kids. 

Make sure to have all vehicle insurance up to date and printed off and possibly put in the glove compartment That you can reach quickly if you get stopped. If you are traveling abroad, get passports early and ready. Check on immunization if you are going out of country. 

Here are some tips on Traveling Safety in a video: 

Next, I would get my vehicle organized and cleaned and clean car seats. 

I have some videos that can help with car organization.  I always keep a tidy, clean and organized truck. The reason why is because you can't travel with an already messy vehicle. Number two, everything is in its place so I can find it while driving should I need something. Number three, I have things in my truck that if I need it, it's there.  My motto is, "I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it". In this video I show you things I keep in my truck especially safety items and women's necessities. Also I touch on things I keep in my truck for kids. 

Here are visuals of things I have in my truck at all times:

Some energizing essential oils. I made this little contraption myself. I glued a little scrap of felt material onto a clothes pin. It hooks perfectly to my vents. I sprinkle a few drops of essential oil on it and the air from the vent dispurses the aroma. This helps keep you awake and alert while driving. 

I have my console organized with important information should emergency personnel need it in the event of an accident. Alot of people have screen locks on their phone so this want help should someone need to find a next of  kin. So I write things down on a piece of paper and place in a plastic zip bag. I have a phone holder for hands free driving. I use this as my GPS. My truck is an older and there is no sense in me paying to update my navigational system, so I just use Google Maps. I have charging chords and adapters, a little trash bin, a notebook to record exits where restroom and gas stations are. I know these show up on maps too but there is just something about pen and paper I rely on. You know, like old paper book maps. I have medical essentials like Tylenol etc. I have the remote to the back DVD player and all sorts of other things. 

In the bac of my truck is a cloth cubby organizer where I keep a jug of water (I'll explain in a second),. a blanket, first aid kit, jumper cables, and a bag of women's essentials in case of accident (extra feminine products, a change of underwear). You never know when you might have a menstral accident. A  small tool box with a few tools in case of a break down. Tire gage, etc. 

In my side panels of drivers side and passenger side I have hand sanitizer, barf bags and a pack of hand wipes. Umbrella, and yes a duster to occassionaly wipe some dust off things while at a stop light. I carry a small dustpan and little hand broom for easy clean ups sometimes from times we get sand in the back of the truck from the lake or crumbs and spills. I have some times used my truck to haul bags of mulch and a few times a bag has been busted, so you know what that means. A mess. Hence, that's what the broom is for. It fits right in the back in a hidden compartment out of sight along with hauling tie down strap. My owners manual to my truck is in my glove compartment along with vehicle registration and insurance  information so law enforcement can see my hands at all times if stopped. 

Now, let's get to the topic on hand. Traveling with kids. 

I have mostly traveled with kids in a vehicle but I know alot of people travel by plane, bus, train etc. Some of these ideas are interchangeable, some you will have to be really creative. For instance, you can't ask a pilot to stop the plane and pull over for a potty break. Right? 

When planning a trip with kids keep a few things in mine. The time you will be traveling, entertainment, and food. Kids need to be comfortable and have what they need or your trip is going to be long and miserable. 

First is to consider the time you are going to be traveling. Which is better for you, night traveling or day traveling. I know alot of parents who will choose night travel because you can let the kids wear their pj's and fall asleep when it is their normal bedtime. 😴  They will be sleeping most of the way and it will be quiet and you can focus and concentrate. If you go by plane or etc., schedule a night time flight or fare. 

Split the driving responsibility.  One drives, one rests. Then swap. One person will not be doing all the driving and will feel fresh and rested when it's their turn.  If one person insists on doing all the driving, then account for frequent breaks to stretch and recoup. When you take a break to stretch, get the kids out to stretch as well and make sure they potty then. 

If you choose to travel by day, you will need to really be creative, on alert and be ready to entertain and keep the kids happy. 

Kids get restless when having to sit for so long especially if they are in a carseat or buckled in. This is where entertaining comes in at. 

I like to pack what I call Busy Bags 🎒 or Activity Back Packs. In these bags or back packs, I will have small items such as, 

. figets for hands and fingers

. sticker books and stickers 

. coloring books and crayons

. small toys such as hot wheels or little dolls

. mini piece puzzles

. small container of play doh and a cutter

. mini game or playing cards

. a lap tray to play on 

. tablet, iPad, small gaming console, headphones etc. 

. books

. stuffed animal,  pillow, blanket 

Basically any small toy or activity that can fit in a back pack or small bag. Each child will have one and they keep up with them. Set them right beside them in their seat or within reach of them. I also have back seat organizers so each child can reach and get what they want and I stock it well. You can see it in the video above. I find alot of these items at Dollar Tree for little to no money. Very inexpensive. 

I also created Activity Binders or Busy Binders. I bought some 3 ring binders, sheet protectors, a pencil pouch that hooks on the rings in the binder, some dry erase markers, and erasers, and an activity book. (all from Dollar Tree). I tore out the pages and placed in the sheet protectors. They can use the markers and erasers on the sheet protectors. They wipe right off and can be used over and over again. I also printed off a few Travel Bingo printable. I added this to the binder in sheet protectors. They get to spot things while traveling and mark it off. Wipe off. Reuse. Smart huh? They love it. 

Here are some examples:

Here is the  road trip bingo. You can put it in one of these or you can put into a sheep protector in a three ring binder along with other activity pages as shown below

Consider taking some small toys for where you are going to be staying as well such as cabin, hotel, Air B and B etc. 

Here are some activity back packs I made from Pioneer Woman placemats. Yes, a place mat. I have some little activity books, coloring books, crayons, pencils, little note pads, mini puzzles, figets, sunglasses, small hand toys, and water bottles. 

Here they are in action using what they have. These things really come in handy and they know how to clean them up really well. I the seat between them is a cloth cubby where they put their backpacks, neck pillows, blankets, and tray. Oh, yes, a tray to do activities like playdoh. I thought of everything. 

Do you see how they keep themselves entertained? Nice Huh? They also have a dvd player in my truck. If we go in someone else's truck, they have a tablet with educational games, bible stories and songs. Also a set of headphones. 

For babies, most of these things would be in their diaper bag like teething toys or small toys. Something hanging from their carrier or carseat. Mom might need to sit by baby or an older sibling that can help entertain baby. 

Then there comes the snacks. Kids still need to eat and you do too when traveling but stopping to eat all the time can make you loose time and spend extra money that can get expensive. Take the time to pack a small cooler with sandwiches,  chips, snacks, water etc. The passenger can hand out what everyone needs or if you do alot for extra time,  find a nice place to pull over at a rest area and have a picnic. This helps to stretch, wake up and potty. 

I have these little gadgets in my truck as well for putting food in to pass back to each kid. It helps cut down on spills and messes. We do this if we stop somewhere and go through a drive through. 

Make sure to research and find out where rest  stops, gas stations and restrooms are. Maps and GPS can show you these things.  Sometimes while traveling, you might have long stretches in between gas stations and restrooms and accidents can happen. You can get stuck in traffic along the Interstate and not move for minutes or even up to a few hours. And that is just about the time someone is going to have to potty. 

Now, do you remember that jug of water I mentioned above? Call me crazy but I also put a port a potty in my truck for kids. It's easy for males to pull over and potty but not females. The water is to clean out the potty after using. This has saved us a few times. No, I do not let them out on the open where passing cars can see to squat. We put it in the floor board or in the back of the truck and they can have privacy. To use these, you can put a plastic sack, an opened diaper, pull up or even a puppy pee pee pad in the bottom. After using, take out and dispose of in a trash bag and throw away at your next rest stop or gas station. Please do not litter the roads. One is inflatable and one can be stationary, which ever you prefer. I also take the inflatable potty and put in diaper bags in case there is no restrooms where we may be going. We went to a rodeo one time and when it was intermission, the line was so long and I had a potty training granddaughter who was fixing to wet her pants and no one would let us pass. So, G-Maw to the rescue. I passed some people explaining I just needed to change a diaper (oops) and fixed my own little stall over to the side in a corner of the bathroom. I blew it up really quick, she got undressed quickly while me and another person were holding a blanket around her creating a privacy barrier. Hey, you gotta get creative where kids are concerned and you do what you have to do.  After her business, we took it to a sink and deeply cleaned it, sanitized it, dried it out, and deflated it. I stuffed that baby back in the diaper bag and we went about our business like no ones business. 

This is my inflatable one: 

Do you also see the hanging organizer from the back of the seat? It holds extra sippy cups and toddler water bottles, a box of wipes, trash bags, puppy pee pee pads, drink packets and a few extra packages of snacks. I never take this stuff out. Here is why. One time on a trip with my husbands work, we went out to eat. At a table next to us, a couple with a toddler came in. She had no diaper bag or anything. I guess she was sure there would be no need to have one. Well, the restaurant was super busy and the child was getting hungry and fussy. I politely asked her if she cared if I ran to  my truck and got a little bag of extra snacks and a little note pad and a few crayons for her. She said she didn't mind at all and was very appreciative when the child was entertaining herself and proudly and happily munching on some Fruit Loops. It made me happy. 

Also, plan for some car sickness. We have had a few episodes with that as well. Pack some motion sickness meds and barf bags. We had an incident one time where our youngest got sick and just spewed every where. Then it became a chain reaction. Our oldest was next then me. Dear hubby was trying to find a place to pull over coming down a mountain on a very narrow two lane road, hauling a 5th wheel camper behind us with cars all behind us. It was not pretty. Our clothes were soiled,  two careats soiled, and smelled to high Heaven.  We finally managed to get somewhere and pull over, change clothes and clean seats and car seats as best as we could. Poor kids had to sit in their carseats with no covers because we had to strip them off and put them into a garbage bag until we could get them washed. It was awful. I learned that day to figure out a plan for the next trip and now it comes in handy today. 

Now, traveling by other means than your own vehicle,  you can still implement some of these ideas and some you will have to be creative. I traveled one time by plane with a 5 year old and 7 month old so I know how this works. And I could not have asked for two better children that trip. Everything went smooth. I know sometimes it will get hectic but planning is the key. Take into consideration their ears and the pressure with high altitudes. This may be the cause for fussiness. 

Here is a few videos that you can have a visual of all the things we just discussed. 

As far as packing goes, I am a firm believer in packing cubes. Those things are miracle workers. You can out outfits in there and they miraculously squish into the cube and zip up to tight. You can organize them into groups. What I mean is, you can organize clothes by sets or have shirts in one, shorts or pants in another. That way you grab a cube for what you need because you will know what's in it. They keep your suitcase organized too instead of just everything being loose and getting unorganized. Packing for kids is so much easier. You can pack or roll up a complete set and put a one day outfit into a ziploc bag and squish all the air out and zip up. Write a day on it like Monday outfit. Evening will be in a bag. They will just pull out a bag a day. Place a shirt,  bottoms, underwear and socks and roll up and place in the bag. Try to pack as light as possible. When packing for grown ups, they to pack a pair of pants and a few shirts that match. This way you can swap out shirts with that one pair of pants and not have to pack so much more. Pack shoes that will go with multiple outfits to cut down on how much you take. 

I may travel with alot of things but they are compact and there when I need them to make our trip more pleasurable and comfortable. Comfortable kids = comfortable trip. 😌 

Here is a video of how I pack my clothes and kids clothes that helps reduce space: you an start about the 27:00 minute mark if you like:

And once last thing you can't forget if you are traveling with young ones? Ummm, are you going to carry them the whole time? I thought not. You can't forget your stroller. Yep, I have a double stroller. I have one that I call the G-Maw mobile. I had two granddaughters under two at the time and I could not carry both at one time. That's where this baby came in at. As you an see, it served me and my mother very well. We also had the ease of knowing they were safe too. 

It held all of their needs as well as ours, but here is the thing, you can fix one up by using some simple hacks to create more space and here is how in this video:

I hope some of these ideas have helped and has sparked creativity to help with your family and traveling situations.  I know these ideas have helped me alot when we traveled with our own, now traveling with grandchildren and me traveling with my dear hubby on work trips. 

Please be safe while traveling and take care of yourself too as the driver. Your family needs a focused, rested and not stressed driver to make it safely to your destination and have a wonderful time on your family trip. 😊  Safe travels as you return home as well. 

Tracy

Keeper of the Home