Most people who have ever traveled have found themselves on an airplane with a screaming child at one point or another. Some onlookers may be filled with frustration, while others feel sorry for the poor parents who are left desperately trying to calm down their child in a public place.
Regardless of how you see it, it’s nevertheless a difficult position to be in for everyone. While there is no quick fix for ensuring that everything goes perfectly when traveling with small children, there are some tricks which can reduce your chances of travel disaster.
Here are some of the best travel tips for parents traveling with small children.
If you’ve never traveled with children before, you may not realize that many airlines allow passengers traveling with their family to check strollers at the gate free of charge. Having a stroller on hand can be incredibly useful when you land, and your toddler is ready to run in all directions in the terminal.
Being able to load them directly into the stroller and hit the ground running in your vacation is ideal. It’s also useful for when you’re sightseeing. Even though your child may now be walking, it’s not ideal to let them run freely. Since they can often run into the road and potentially get hit by a car, a stroller gives an added sense of security to vacationing parents.
Your child will likely spill plenty of things on their clothes throughout the duration of your trip. Most seasoned traveling parents will recommend that you bring extra of everything. Between the plane ride and the trip itself, you’ll be happy you have a few extra outfits a day to keep up with your accident prone little one.
Throughout your trip, there will be moments that you want to sit back and relax without having to worry about entertaining your small child. Ideally, you should pack plenty of activities so that they can have fun on their own while you sit back and enjoy a sunset for a moment.
You’ll also find the plane ride much less miserable if they have plenty to do without getting restless.
Depending on public transportation or trying to hail taxis can be challenging when you have a small child who’s ready to go home for a nap.
It can relieve a tremendous amount of stress from your trip if you rent a car. Being able to set your own schedule rather than relying on the timetables of buses or waiting for an available taxi is incredibly helpful when you’re traveling with kids. If you’re traveling to a location which is particularly hot or cold, it’s also quite nice having a temperature controlled vehicle to get around in.