Traveling with young children can be a bit challenging but extremely rewarding. This is an opportunity to make memories, give your children the gift of travel and pass on the passion to them. Sharing tips to plan a vacation with small children to make the experience enjoyable and less stressful.
I feel I caught the travel bug when my parents took me as a two-month old on a road trip through Pakistan’s beautiful northern areas. Despite dire warnings, they decided to make the adventurous trip with a newborn and a three-year-old. I love the hilarious stories from the trip such as when my mom’s brother, who accompanied us, washed me with freezing cold water under a hand pump in Gilgit after a disastrous poop explosion. The stories, memories and pictures from this trip and many more that my parents took with us children, continue to bond us as a family.
Tips to Plan a Vacation with Small Children
Here are some tips to keep in mind to plan a vacation with small children.
1. Destination
While you can definitely wish to go back-packing across the Himalayas with small children, do stay realistic when choosing a destination. Pick a place with ideally a direct flight.
2. Pacing It Right
As you plan your vacation days, make sure you keep time for rest along with sight seeing. Pacing your vacation right is the key to a successful one.
3. Take help of Family
If you can bring along family on your vacation, the extra pair of helping and loving hands will really help. Grandparents can be a great addition to a family vacation as they would love to relax with the children in the room as they nap or sleep early. You can use this time to explore the city more or enjoy a couples-only dinner.
4. Go with the Flow
Plan as you can and then leave the rest to the moment. Enjoy your vacation by going with the flow. Let your children taste local food, nap in the stroller and run around past bed time. Children are more resilient and adept to change, then we give them credit for.
5. Attitude is Key
Keep a positive attitude. Realize that taking a vacation with your family is a blessing that many can’t afford. Make the most of every moment and day. If anything, the biggest disasters make the funniest stories later on.
6. Packing List
Make sure you keep all essential traveling supplies for small children such as medication for common ailments, diapers, wipes, stroller, carrier and skin care necessities such as a great moisturizer for the whole family.
I love the Naturalene Daily Skincare cream made from natural bee’s wax and certified organic ingredients. It’s a great product to keep on hand while travelling for the needs of the whole family. Read more here.
Hope you enjoyed these tips to plan a vacation with small children. What are some tricks that have always helped you?
Disclaimer: This blog post is sponsored by Greeniche. All opinions are my own.
Hello Urdu mom,the tips shared by you are fantastic and very practical, not too heavy on the pocket neither too impractical to implement. Just would like to add one thing here, that sometimes some children dont have great immune system and tend to develop seasonal allergy, so the weather you pick to travel matters a lot.Many kids aint able to tolerate winters especially those coming from karachi side,so its not recommended for them to go in peek winter season.I remember going once with my small one and he fell very sick..so most of the tip was utilized n nabulization…so its better to see which weather resonates with your kids or else have doctor prescribe the medicine in case your child reacts to the weather and fall sick. You are doing a great job on the blog, super proud of you.