top tips for traveling with kids
Traveling with kids is hard - different ages, interests and needs are tough to balance. We are here to simplify and take the stress out of family travel.
Here are our top 3 tips for traveling with kids!
1: Involve Kids Early and Often
Kids are going to be more engaged and excited about a trip that they helped plan. From dreaming about destinations, picking accommodations, planning activities, selecting food and packing, kids of different ages can get involved. During your trip, keep them interested by doing a meal-time discussion of their favorite / least favorite activities of the day.
We recommend getting kids involved from Day 1. We will be launching tools with conversation prompts and kid-friendly questions to help start these convos. Sign up for the newsletter to get dibs.
2: Slow Down
This one can be super tough but everyone is going to be happier if they aren’t exhausted (that includes parents/trip planners). Our top rules are:
Assume nothing happens on a travel day. I tell my kids to not even count this as part of the trip.
Pick one big thing per day. Base this around energy levels / schedules. We like a big morning activity.
Schedule in quiet (or screen) time. For our family, this is mid-afternoon.
We can help find the right pace itinerary for your family’s needs. Our Family Trip Itinerary is coming soon! Sign up for the newsletter to get a heads up.
3: Make Memories
When you get home, there’s a mountain of laundry to do, so many groceries to get, maybe animals to pick up, mail to gather, etc. The last thing on most people’s minds is making an elaborate, curated photo book of their trip. We get that. Kids also get a lot out of post-activity conversations, it helps hammer in those memories! So, once you’re back home and settled, here are some easy ideas on how to do that:
Dump all your photos in a google drive and do a living room TV slide show.
Talk about your favorite things in around the dinner table, share funny memories.
Make it homework - use your trip as fodder for homework assignments! Have to do a biome research project? How about the California chaparral, which we just experienced in San Diego? This gives bigger kids a great opportunity to root their travel in research after the fact.
Discuss what you learned on the trip! Not everything is sunshine and rainbows on trips. If you hated something, acknowledge it and talk about what you learned that you like / don’t like on trips. That’s totally OK!
We love hearing about people’s trips, pouring over photos and figuring out what we loved / liked / and learned and dreaming about your next trip! I can’t wait to tell you more about post-trip support we can offer! Check out our newsletter for more.