Isabelle 
Travelling with children has its own challenges; here are tips and tricks for your next road-trip so that you can all focus on having fun!
Hi everyone!
Sorry I haven’t written in a while. I’ve been on vacation with my kiddoes.
So, here I am, back and ready to go. Yeah!
Have you taken any vacation time this summer yet?
Are you planning to do so?
Here are a few tips to remember when leaving on a road trip (big or small)!
- Involve your child/children from the start. From the planning to the packing (and remember their favourite blankets and stuffed animals for the road! … VERY IMPORTANT)!
- If you’re going on a long road trip, plan fun stops along the way (every X hours if possible). This will also help distract the child/children, which will help with the infamous ”are we there yet”, including the fighting / arguing that could happen when people are stuck together in a car for too long.
- Plan activities that can be played in the vehicle as you go along. Activities like; colouring books, origami, pipe cleaner sculpture, tic tac toe, and other crafts. Even Edge sketch, yep they still exist and are loads of fun.
- If you’re on a tight budget, prepare a picnic and snacks. This will avoid having to stop for expensive food along the way.
- If you have a really long road ahead, you might want to leave at night. For example, before our 12 hour road trip, one of the parents would rest all day, and the children would go to bed at their usual time. We’d then leave around midnight/1am in the morning. I know, it sounds weird but when you think about it, you put your child/children to bed, you pick them up during the night and strap them in their car seats and leave. They will sleep a good part of the way, and the parent that rested the day before can really speed your trip along. Before you know it, the children have travelled 4-5 hours without even realizing it!
- And if you’re going to visit relatives, think about making a photo album for your child/children
- Always have an emergency kit. With bandaids, flashlights, blanket, large Ziploc bag, roadside assistance kit, etc…
- And the most important of all…. HAVE FUN !!!
Travelling with children can be challenging, but with some advanced planning and a few games / arts and crafts up your sleeve, everyone can have a fun time on your next family vacation.
These 2 series of books are really fun when traveling with children.
Like the I spy book series
The Seek and Find books are also a great idea to pass the time.
*** Side note here. Did you know that the use of video screens before the age of 2 is highly frowned upon and not recommended by professionals?
Between the ages of 2 and 5, children should only have about a maximum of 1h of screen time per day! Also, between 5 and 8 the maximum time is 2 hours! Having too much screen time can really impact children’s brain development. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/childrens-health/in-depth/screen-time/art-20047952
https://healthmatters.nyp.org/what-does-too-much-screen-time-do-to-childrens-brains/
*** This is according to the expert my the Mayo Clinic and Health Matters.***
