Kids travel: 16 top tips for family travel

Kids travel…when you have them, travelling is never as easy as when you didn’t! So here are some top tips for travelling with the kids:

1. Have a supply of favourite books – if you need something new visit your local library first but it may give you the extra headache that the books are not yours.
2. In the car take story or music CD’s (something you can bear listening too) again borrow from the library if you need inspiration.
3. If you have children who are car sick you might need a supply of plastic bags, wet wipes, anti bac spray whatever you need to clear up.
4. Spare clothes you can get at easily without having to unpack half the bags.
5. Water bottles whether your own or you have to get them on route the same goes for snacks but even if you are flying it can give your youngsters something else to think about and can help with air pressure changes.
6. Medication anything an individual child needs as well as sachets of Calpol, Nurofen, Piriton, creams for bumps bruises, stings, nappy rash and plasters. Nail scissors and hairbrushes are what we seem to forget most often.
7. A favourite soft toy to cuddle up to
8. We never seem to leave home without a bag of colouring bits and bobs and stickers. If I empty my bag it usually has some of these in and a few toy cars.
9. Our kids don’t have their own Nintendos, iPods or iPads, but we do have some games on some of our adult devices which can be used in an emergency.
10. Brush up on games like 20 questions (you are allowed to ask 20 closed questions to guess the animal) any that don’t need lots of pieces, big boards etc. With older kids it can be battle ships, hangman etc. You can also get small travelling magnetic games but the pieces can be quite small.
11. Ensure all your insurance is up to date and any documentation you need with you. We ended up in hospital once with croup whilst on the Isle of Wight.
12. Be prepared especially In the UK it is gorgeous now but next week who knows! So stuff for sun and stuff for rain. You could even take a couple of favourite DVD’s in case it rains or to let you relax for a bit.
13. Careful what you promise make sure you have room for the scooters before you say they can come with you. You might still need to get the buggy in too.
14. Some outdoor play stuff – bucket and spades if there is room but even a small football or tennis ball means you have something to do at the park or in the garden.
15. You might want to take your first meal with you even if it is just a packet of pasta and sauce especially if you are going to arrive at an unsociable hour or are concerned about what the children will eat.
16. And finally don’t forget a treat for the grown-ups a big bar of chocolate or a nice bottle of something.

Not an exhaustive list and there is always a lot to sort out and if you are anything like me you arrive on holiday completely knackered from the preparation!! Anyway good luck and have a great summer.

Oh and don’t forget the dog or organising someone to feed the fish and water the tomatoes.

Do you have any other thoughts on this at all? Let us know! We are going to pull together a post later in the week with the some great tips posts from the web, so if you want to be included, let us know below!

This is our regular Tips for Parenting guest post by Beckie Whitehouse from Be Confident Coaching.

Image above courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Beckie Whitehouse

Beckie is a mum to three kids, and works in the Cambridge area as a coach.Feel free to get in contact for a no obligation discussion.

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