Making those ”holidaying“dreams come true!
When you have babies in the household, holidays are just wistful dreams, pined over a cup of tea. Holidaying with young kids can indeed get tricky. But if carefully approached, we can build longlasting family memories with few tears from both parents and kids.
Be Organised: Be it whether you are travelling by plane, train or automobile, go prepared for every situation, especially when dealing with children five and under. Snacks, extra clothes, books, play toys whatever you think will distract your child during the journey, have with you. Usually these days technology does come to our rescue, but try and not let your youngster be glued to a screen for a ten hour plane ride, the weaning process in a foreign land will not be pretty. Mix it up, distract with activities coupled with bouts of screen time, you will find the time pass as quickly as they do keeping them entertained!
No Long trips: If you have babies and toddlers, it would be prudent to not travel too far from home. Long journeys are not made for babies and small children, a more successful time would be had if holiday destinations are chosen close to home. I understand that before you had kids you were this happy global traveller, living out of backpacks... but with babies in tow, this might not be entirely popular. But this does not mean we all scrap all travel plans and hide under covers. Instead be clever, pick the holidays that suit your family at this moment in time and get adventurous as time goes on. You can have kids and still have a good time!!!
Child friendly venues: Make sure to pick destinations that have kid friendly activities. From pools to museums to funfairs. I know you are on holiday, but the kids need excitement as well and occupied kids are quite interesting holidaying companions. As parents, we take great pleasure in seeing our kids happy and as you pick your holidays, make sure that there is a balance between the adventure and places that your children will enjoy. Art museums are lots of fun for the art enthusiasts, but if you are a little toddler, they might not hold their interest as much! Maintain the routine: Even though on holiday. Keep to routine with little kids especially. Make sure meals are eaten at proper times, mandatory naps are taken and bedtimes adhered to. Kids thrive on routine and deviation leads to disgruntled toddlers. When travelling abroad and so on, the schedules might deviate a little, but with little babies in tow, it will be prudent to get them back into a schedule soon for this will facilitate your trips and so on.
Night to self: If possible take a night for yourself and partner. A happier you is a more motivated parent to deal with any number of challenges. Wrangle a friend, bribe a relative travelling with you and try and get a few hours or an evening for yourselves, remember you're on holiday as well!!
Travelling with small children can get very complicated quite quickly, but the trick is to be prepared and stick to the routine.
Be it whether you are travelling by plane, train or automobile, go prepared for every situation