Eight Steps To Prepare For A Family Trip
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Recently, one of my daughters asked friends and family for recommendations on how to travel with ‘Littles.’ She collected some great ideas for interesting activities, but the discussion that ensued reminded me of the nightmarish backstory that inspired our favorite family travel tips.
Once upon a time…
Some thirty-odd years ago or so, I decided to join my family of origin on a road trip. Stache couldn’t take time off of work, so our two young children and I headed out to ride along with extended family, about twenty hours from Southern California to Denver, Colorado.
The purpose of our trip was lovely. One of my brothers was getting married to his college sweetheart, and my not yet four-year-old son was asked to be the ring bearer at the wedding.
Despite some intense travel woes, we made it! And the wedding was beautiful!!
We found ourselves in a heap of trouble.
The first clue that we were all in trouble was an issue regarding car seats. Child safety seats were a relatively new thing back in the ’80s. Previously negotiable, car seat laws were an entirely new concept to my folks who ‘raised six kids just fine without them!’
I had become a firm believer in staying buckled at all times while traveling in a car. A conflict ensued from the get-go because my 9-month-old baby HATED car seats! Other than when she slept, the poor dear screamed the entire trip. It was torturous! We tried everything short of staying home. (Thankfully, the girl grew out of that stage!)
Nobody had a clue how to fix it.
On top of the first problem was the fact that I was still nursing my baby and she refused to take a bottle. As audacious as it might sound today, new mothers in my parents day were often discouraged from nursing. The idea of nursing a 9-month-old was not only foreign, but the needs of a nursing mother and baby were entirely outside their realm of experience.
To be fair, these memories are from my twenty-three-year-old, intensely self-focused perspective. Clueless myself, I believe we were on the way home before I finally realized, though he said nothing, if I came out of another bathroom stop with a new 32-ouncer in my hand, my dad’s head would surely lift off his shoulders and implode.
Understatement of the late twentieth century, we were all miserable! Each adult had a mile-long litany of reasons why the other was thoughtless and rude. And the poor kids!
We finally found the keys!
All to say, I don’t believe specific equipment, activities, or food is the primary key to pleasant, multi-generational group travel. Our problem was a significant lack of communication as well as several severe cases of unrestrained self-focus and pride. The keys to enjoyable travel with ‘Littles’ are preparation, humility, and kindness.
as well as mountain and beach tent camping. It was a trip of a lifetime!!
Since then, our family has traveled not only with our own five children but now with multiple grandchildren and many friends with their grandchildren. We’ve road-tripped while both tent and yurt camping; we have cabined and stayed in hotels. We’ve even taken a two-day train trip across the country from Indiana to California and flew home. The trips have all had minor, true-to-life challenges to work through, but each one has been AMAZINGLY rewarding!
and the other 5-months expecting.
Following are some traveling and road trip suggestions on how to travel with Littles and enjoy it.
1. Brush up on age-appropriate character training and thoughtful manners.
This idea needn’t be complicated or negative. Keep it engagingly fun by role-playing scenarios together as a family, weeks before travel. Make it a unifying family game, and the ‘Littles’ will cheerfully join in.
Like a favorite T-shirt, teens and adults can choose to ‘put on’ compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. These God-honoring lifestyle habits will go a long way to serve those near us and in our care, – whether at home or wedged and strapped up tight in a van. Check out Colossians 3, it’s a goldmine for Christian living!
2. Discern and discuss the needs and preferences of each traveler.
Will great-grandma need to periodically stretch her legs? Do preschoolers need potty stops every two hours or so? Does nursing momma need a new drink? Graciously plan for needs and make way for them to be met. For as many people as are traveling with you (including each Little!), there will be as many unique sets of values, preferences, and needs. All should be considered.
At some point, as with life, compromises will have to be made. Excellent planning and clear communication will help each passenger be able to prepare their hearts and minds for the coming event. Even preschoolers can appreciate and participate in this preparation.
3. Plan your travel schedule through as many typical child sleep hours as possible.
Obviously, there are safety provisions to consider with this point, but I’m sure you’ll agree, quiet, content children are of paramount value towards travel sanity.
For the approximate twenty-hour road trip my daughter’s family is about to take from Indiana to Colorado, they plan to leave right at the children’s naptime. This will get them peacefully down the road before needing their first stop. Assuming their children’s typical sleep hours, the children will likely only need to tolerate up to eight hours awake time in the van.
Prepare for the best conditions to help the driver stay awake and bright. For us, that means unsalted sunflower seeds, coffee, water and keeping the temps a bit chilly.
A second driver should sleep as much as possible, prepared to take the wheel as necessary. If traveling to visit family or friends, consider pre-arranging childcare so drivers can grab a nap after arriving at the final destination.
4. Everybody ‘goes’ at each stop or forfeits emergency request to stop earlier than planned.
Getting personal here, I agree, but if everyone traveling together has the same starting point for food, bathroom, and leg stretches, extra stops are much less likely. For the good of all, everybody ‘goes’ on planned stops, whether necessary or no.
5. Bring your children’s favorite daily essentials from home.
My kids all had a special blankie that helped them relax. Some had other comforts like pacifiers, a small toy or stuffy. I’m not suggesting to take a house load of items, but make sure you bring along those most comforting things for each child. You’re gonna need them.
6. Dress comfortably for travel. Have an extra set of clothes plus a pair of easy slip-on shoes readily accessible.
Make life easy on yourselves and the children. Dress comfortably and plan for inevitable messes. Keep everybody’s shoes organized and easy to grab.
We love kid-sized backpacks to keep things orderly, packed loosely with one change of clothes along with their few favorite essentials. Store these bags within reach of each child. Encourage as much independence as is helpful. The children will enjoy it.
Skip Hop 12 Inch Toddler Backpacks come in many fun colors and designs
Wilkin 12 and 15-inch Backpacks come in fifteen unique designs
Speaking of keeping things easy, consider using Pullups for preschoolers and don’t forget an ample supply of Swim Diapers for the super Littles, just in case some swim time presents itself. Nothing kills water fun faster for everybody than an inadequate diaper!
7. Consider a ‘Chick-Fil-A Tour’ along your road trip route.
We recently added this idea to our travel tip list. Chick-Fil-A has predictably clean, relatively secure play areas paired with quality food choices and healthy options. You can hardly beat that! Planning one Chick-Fil-A visit per travel day will give your Littles some rambunctious physical playtime that they will surely enjoy.
Contrary to our usual pattern of allowing children to play AFTER they’ve eaten, consider allowing young travelers to play immediately. Parents can enjoy their meal while watching children play. Then after some solid playtime, order the children’s meals and take them with you. This should ‘buy’ another half hour of pleasant distraction, while on the road.
Back in the day, this Chick-Fil-A idea was either impossible or budget prohibitive. Instead, we took a Cooler Picnic along and parked at a Highway Rest Stop. Creative, informal relay races fill in nicely for playtime. These games are great for both kids and adults. Everybody still gets quality food options, works out some wiggles, and hopefully gets a bit fresh air.
8. Between naps and night time sleeping, make time for the family to be involved with each other through age-appropriate car games, silly songs, and audiobooks.
There’s no shame in some screen time. Let’s be honest, we all enjoy it sometimes. However, too much screen time can become counterproductive towards peaceful attitudes and family bonding. Save monitored screen time to keep ‘Littles’ occupied and quiet while others are sleeping.
Family-friendly back seat game suggestions
Who knew?! Use Amazon Music Unlimited for all sorts of Kids Songs!
Use Audible For Kids Books! Great Fun!!
These Fire HD 8 Kids Edition Tablets have a great reputation. Save $64.99 (!) if you need more than one and buy in a bundle.
Happy trails to you and yours!
Having an overall high value of God-honoring humility will enable each person to be flexible as necessary for the group as a whole. Remember, we lead our families first by example. Hearts are knit together with kindness.
I’m excited to hear! Do you have additional travel tips that are especially helpful for your family? I’m sure we’d all benefit to hear them.
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