Trip Planning with Little Ones
I recently completed a check list for an upcoming trip for my little family of four. Almost immediately after I sent the very detailed “itinerary” to my husband, anxious thoughts started to spread like wildfire. “Does this sound super controlling? Should I ask the kids if they want to do different things? Will they hate me if this weekend sucks?”
I quickly brought myself back to reality by remembering past trips that we have taken with our kids. Trips that included countless hours of research and preparation, and ended with little to no episodes of disappointment.
After a quick but lovely trip down memory lane, I thought I would share a few tips for others who plan to travel with kids in the distant COVID-free future.
- Include the kids in the planning process. Our most memorable moments have been activities and/or attractions recommended by the kids. Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, always be sure to get buy-in from everyone. However, be sure to not raise expectations so high that you cannot meet them. When asking for input, set parameters for your questions like, “If you could choose 3 things to see or 3 rides to ride, what would they be?” If you are traveling with multiple children, you may need to then take a further step to ask, “Of those 3, which is your number one choice?” This will help you to decide your priorities for the trip.
- Do your research. One of the easiest ways to disappoint is to promise something that just isn’t realistic. For example, if you have an hour window for an activity, but you have to drive 30 minutes to get there, it just doesn’t work. Also, be sure to plan ahead for things such as age requirements, cost expectations, and read customer reviews. For our trip to Disney Land, I spent longer than I should have on planning the ride schedule to ensure we were able to hit the top rides before the lines were so long that we lost most of our day. This meant reading blog after blog to find out which lines fill up the quickest. Not only were the kids happy that they hit the main attractions, but I was able to rest easy for the remainder of the day knowing we got it out of the way.
- Follow their timeline. Generally, kids wake up early. Plan ahead by getting a good night’s rest and make the most of your day by getting an early start. If you have multiple destinations, take on multiple stops between breakfast and lunch. If you are visiting a theme park, get ahead of the crowds and take advantage of the good moods before the attitudes set in! Also, if you are a picture taker like myself, plan to get your “daily” photo early so that you do not have to worry about constantly fixing everyone’s hair or avoiding chocolate milk spills.
4. Quality over Quantity. Children have built in mechanisms for survival. (Babies are cute for a reason — to attract us and make us want to care for them.) Because kids have not yet learned to articulate their feelings, they often cry or act out when they are hungry, tired, anxious, overwhelmed or even angry. Most parents know these cues in their children. Rather than pushing through lunch to get in a few extra sights, plan to stop, refuel and even nap if necessary. Be intentional about this piece by putting it into your timeline and invest in quality time over quantity.
5. Keep your nutrition routine. Just as kids have their own timelines, they also need routine when away from home. This is especially true as it relates to nutrition and sugar consumption. Time and time again I have seen parents give a child caffeine or sugar and then punish the child for not being able to control his/her biological reaction to it. It is important for the adults in the room to take responsibility for those moments. Kids naturally need routine, and admittedly we all get out of whack when we are traveling. However, finding ways to ensure a sense of normalcy will go a long ways in keeping everyone happy!
6. Manage trip priorities. If you followed step one and included the kids in the planning process, please be sure to follow through with these priorities. This means a bit of extra planning for the adults, but it will likely be the number one reason the trip is memorable for your child. Make a list of the top priorities during the trip. It should not be an exhaustive list, remember manage the expectations from the beginning. However, find one or two things that have been expressed and make sure they happen. If I may reference our trip to Disney Land again, one of the expressed wishes of my 7 year old son at the time was to see the Star Wars characters up close. In my research, 1. I found that there were three show times on the day that we would be there. From blogs, 2. I found that the space quickly filled up and that it was necessary to arrive early to get a good seat. Because this was a top priority, we planned to attend the first showing to give ourselves room in case we did not get a good seat and needed to return to the second show. Additionally, 3. my research showed that once you have a good seat, there are opportunities for crowd participation. Anticipating the disappointment of my 7 year old if he did not get to participate, I continued to read more about this process. To make a long story short, we scored front row seats, used our hidden knowledge to boost our chances of being picked, and scored a memory that outweighs most of the rest of our trip.
