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Traveling with Your Kids: Parenting from the Road

Easy Tips and Teachable Moments

As we all know, parenting is a full time job that provides no time to rest on our laurels, even on vacation. We’re almost in the thick of summer, and for your kids that probably means endless hours of freedom—at least until school starts back up again in the fall. Instead of letting your kids waste the summer hours away in front of the television set or computer screen, plan a family road trip that will create beautiful memories you can all cherish for a lifetime. Check out this collection of fun travel activities that will provide great teaching moments for your kids during your journey.

Before You Head Out

Before packing up the car and hitting the open road, make sure you incorporate your children’s thoughts into the planning of the trip. If you already have a destination in mind, make sure they know where it is you’re going and help them do a little bit of research on the place before you depart. Outline what you will do, take a look at it on the map to improve your child’s geographical awareness, and discuss the types of things you will do whilst there. This will help your kids develop a relationship with your destination and make it less foreboding, and more exciting. Need help with destination ideas? This travel resource has some great ideas!

As the day of departure draws closer, organize and pack for each day of your travels. This will help your little one practice their critical thinking and improve organization skills in one fell swoop. Once the suitcases are packed, build a wish list with your little ones. Talk about the opportunities there are to be had in the locale you’re visiting and find out what your kids hope to see or do. Keep it with you during the trip to refer to and have your kids ready for the next activity throughout the entirety of your journey.

If you are renting your house out while you’re away (I often do this for some extra income), have your children help prepare for the guest. Whether said guest is a friend, family member, or someone paying to stay in your home, having your child participate in the preparation aspects will help him or her feel pride and satisfaction even before you head out on your journey.

Extra Tip! I always rent my home when I leave for an extended period of time. If you follow this route, make sure you vet your tenants. For children (and their parents), coming back to a robbed home or trashed house can be a traumatic experience. I use this resource to get extra background information on my renters, but Airbnb and Homeaway also have great insurance policies.

During Your Travels

Keep your kids busy during a long road trip with educational projects. Coloring books help keep boredom at bay, but they also work wonders for creativity, independence, and improve fine motor skills. If your little one is old enough to write, task them with a project: list all the interesting things you see during the road trip. This will help you learn more about things making an impression on your children, and keep them occupied for hours. To go off of this idea, you can take part in a rousing game of “I Spy” —an oldie but goodie. This simply game supports problem solving and critical thinking, and will definitely help them to take in their surroundings.

Extra Tip! Traveling can be especially difficult when your children are young. To ease your travel needs, make sure to prepare all the necessary food and travel supplies beforehand. Instead of stopping on the way for greasy, unhealthy fast food, pack some yummy and nutritious snacks your little ones can chow down on in the car. Check out this resource for some great snack ideas for travelling.

You’ve Reached Your Destination

Once you’ve arrived, take advantage of the teachable moments that come your way. Whether you’re out sightseeing or relaxing at the beach, you can incorporate these fun activities to make for an education and entertaining family vacation.

Inspire your child’s inner Sherlock Holmes with detective games. Give your little one a difficult task and have them try to determine how to solve or complete it on their own. For example, ask your child to find five items made of red, blue, green, yellow, and orange. If you have multiple children, make it a competition to see who can find the most creative item.

Help your little one improve their art skills with designated drawing time during your travels, especially if you’re in a picturesque destination. Bring along paper and colored pencils, and pop a squat whenever you see a vista or beautiful sight. Then, spend the time with your kids taking in the views and sketching a portrait of all you see. This is sure to leave more of an impression than a photo taken on your iPhone will.

If you’re leaving on an extended vacation, teach your child the importance of maintaining relationships by writing weekly letters to friends or family members back at home. In these letters, encourage your child to explain the best things they’ve seen; this will help with retention, personal skills, and inspire better independent thinking.

Extra Tip! If you’ve stayed in an Airbnb or some other sort of rental, teach your children the lesson of gratitude by writing thank you letters to your host. Instruct your little one to write down (or dictate to you) the best parts of their trip. This will come full circle if you are renting out your home, as your children will be able to see things from the point of view of both a host and a guest. Check out this guide for great ‘thank you’ writing tips.

As we get further into summer and your kids frolic in the freedom of summer break, it’s likely that you plan to head out on the open road and check out some new places. To keep your sanity and make sure your kids have a wonderful experience, keep these “parenting on the road” tips in your arsenal.

Author Bio: Hank can eat a whole pizza in one sitting. He is a wacky DIY blogger with a nose for adventure. Check him out on twitter to see what he is tweeting about next. @Homebyhank

A week ago we decided to go on a mini-vacation to Niagara Falls, Ontario on the way to the memorial for my Grandmother in Silver Creek, New York. We were excited to be able to have the kids experience the magic and natural wonder that is Niagara Falls and because this was international travel with kids we knew that we had to do our research to do things right. That being said, I cannot say that we did things completely right, but we tried, and I wanted to take a moment to share the top five things that we learned in about international travel with kids.

Research Documentation Requirements
When you choose international travel with kids, look to see what is required in regards to documentation for kids and for you. For many countries, you will have to get a passport. The nice thing about this is that if you get this they will last for a few years, so it is a one time expense. If you are traveling through Canada the rules are a bit more relaxed. For example, we decided not to pay to get new passports for our kids this summer (their passports expired in March) because kids can travel in Canada with their birth certificate if they do not have a passport.
Check on the current Exchange Rates
Make sure to look at the current exchange rates before international travel with kids. Realize that businesses in other countries may not be required to honor the exchange rate at the same rate as many will charge a transaction fee because of having to take the money somewhere to have it exchanged back. We had this happen to us numerous times and we found that the consistency between businesses was non-existent. If you want to pay in your own currency you need to ask what their going rate is for this. You may even want to think about purchasing currency before you go, especially if your trip is an extended one.
Look at the Weather Conditions
Whether the destination that you may be going may be close or far, it is important to look ahead of time to bring the clothes that you will need for international travel with kids. We thought that we had done this, but unfortunately we came to find that our clothes were a bit inadequate for how cold it ended up being (colder than originally expected and rainier than expected).
Explore Public Transportation Options
At Niagara Falls parking is very expensive by the falls, but if you get a WEGO pass you can really save a ton of money and get anywhere you need to go around the downtown falls area. That being said, when you are looking to travel internationally, especially if you will be near a major city, look for public transportation options as you may be very surprised by how inexpensive this may be, especially in regards to international travel with kids!
Pack Everything You Need to Capture Your Memories
I am a photographer by nature so I always pack my Samsung NX 1 with me, but I also do not want to forget to think about the video camera, extra SD cards, battery chargers, external flash or any other filters or other camera equipment that I might need to capture the experiences with my family. So think ahead and bring what you need depending on the type of person you are and the type of experiences you and planning to try to have on your trip.