Travelling with children can be a nightmare at the best of times let alone when the festive season rolls around. Some of us are quite happy to stay at home or make a quick dash across town to visit family members but some people choose to travel up or down the country to other family members and need to minimise stress where possible. Trying to remember everything is stressful enough without the added pressure of remembering presents and plenty of other Christmassy things!
A family friend told me recently of something that happened when her sons were younger. Her and her husband had bought their boys a kids pool table and needed to take it to the grandparents as that was where they were going for Christmas and it was their main present. Of course a pool table no matter how small isn’t that easy to disguise and the boys soon questioned what it is. Thinking on her feet, she told them it was an ironing board for their grandma. When they arrived after a long and stressful journey, the last thing she wanted to hear was them telling their grandma that she had got an ironing board for Christmas… I still don’t know if they actually had to go out and buy an ironing board after all that but do you see what I mean about being stressful when having to take presents too?
Here are my five top tips for travelling with kids:
1. Make sure they are comfortable. There is nothing worse than being uncomfortable and you want to ensure your child is completely comfortable at all times. I would recommend a neck pillow for maximum comfort. With the weather being bitterly cold, make sure the heating is on and they are wrapped up warm.
2. Make regular rest stops. We often need to stop off for fuel, toilet breaks and food and drink. Make sure to keep to these regularly as children work on completely different time to the rest of us.
3. Play games with them. Make the car journey a fun one. Play games like I-Spy or count how many of a certain colour car they can see. It will distract them from the journey and make your life a lot less stressful – children whining ‘Are we there yet?’ gets a little tiring after a while!
4. Have snacks and drinks in the car. You don’t want to go overboard and you will probably be purchasing things when making a rest stop BUT you definitely won’t regret keeping some snacks in the car, especially if stuck in traffic (or even worse for this time of year, snow!).
5. Use technology to your advantage. There are only so many games you can play with your child in the small confines of a car so if you own a tablet or mobile phone, be sure to keep them occupied with it. We often put a movie onto the iPad or visit Sky Go just before we leave for a journey and download some of his favourite programmes. These will keep him occupied for ages!
What are your top tips for travelling with children?
I was provided with a children’s travel survival pack from Travelbag for creation of this post