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Traveling with Children (and Enjoying Yourself)

© Karen Cabiac

One of the greatest challenges I can remember with young children was the "joy" of traveling. What I remember most was how thankful I was when the children were all sleeping at the same time and hoping it would last for a few hours. Most of our travel was by car and in "the old days" vehicles were not equipped with televisions. This made it very necessary to pack plenty of activities. With three children sharing the back seat of a car our "vacations" could have harrying moments.

Some of the highlights of these trips include: packing plenty of snacks for the children and then having to use the entire container of baby wipes to clean them up within an hour of leaving the house; bringing along coloring books and a brand-new box of crayons (the HUGE one that has every conceivable color and more) and then having the kids leave it on the back shelf in 100+ degrees; running out of diapers in the middle of nowhere; losing hamsters (twice!). Why did we have hamsters, you may ask. This was a trip of necessity rather than choice - we were moving across country and had put the hamsters in a temporary home which they quickly discovered they could escape from.

Some of your planning may even backfire. Children may become so involved in an activity (say a hand-held computer game such as "Game-boy") that they will completely miss (rather I should say dismiss) seeing some of the sights which you had planned specifically with them in mind. Then, too, there is the teen-ager who would rather be somewhere else completely. I can still remember how I felt at that age going on trips which I felt were B-O-R-I-N-G and actually could not wait to get home again.

Tips from my own experience would include bringing along plenty of water. This can be used both for drinking and quick wipe-ups. Of course, I would still bring a container (one at least) of baby wipes. Plenty of snacks that are easy to handle, washed fruits, dried fruits, individual juice-boxes, dry snacks such as crackers placed in individual zip lock bags. Limit sodas as they contain a log of sugar and are not really thirst quenching.

Activities should include blank paper pads, sticker books, coloring books, crayons, and pencils. Markers are okay if you are traveling with older school-age children who are responsible enough to keep track of lids (you don't want marker leakage on hands, clothes , and car seats). For children who are a little older having their own camera may add to interest in your destination.