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Family Trip With Kids (source) |
If you’re travelling with children under the age of 3 then you’ll already be well-aware of the benefits of having a bag that is solely packed with the kids in mind. This is totally true for holiday-luggage too and if you can have: wipes, nappies, clothes, snacks, toys, comforters and sun tan cream to hand then it’s half the battle won. For kids who are older than 3 then they really should be carrying their own bags, albeit smaller versions, and from roll along character suitcases to mini-back-packs, enabling your offspring to be in charge of their own stuff is a great way to lighten your load and give them a few responsibilities along the way.
Wrap up some presents
A great means of helping long journeys to go just that little bit quicker is to make them fun. It doesn’t matter whether you are on a coach, plane or train, travelling with children can be anything from good times to hell on earth. A fabulous method that I’ve learnt is to reward good behaviour with a treat every hour. The treats are wrapped up to make the process of reward more exciting and just that little bit more time consuming. Make the treat something that you can do together like a game or a sticker book and then use it for as long as possible until the novelty wears off or you reach your final destination.
Keep to some kind of routine
It’s so easy to slip out of routine whilst you’re travelling away from home and even on family adventure holidays, keeping to some kind of pattern is vital for success. Kids can get disorientated, agitated and a little bit out of their comfort zone if they don’t have a routine and playing up is sure to follow. If you can hold your ground and try to keep reading stories before bed time, eating meals together as a family and getting dressed when you wake up and putting on pjs when you they go to bed, they’ll still have a semblance of structure even if you’re trekking through the jungles of Borneo!
Encourage learning and responsibility
Holidays are meant to be fun where everyone gets to relax and do things that they want to do. It may come as some surprise to discover that learning can be enjoyable too and by involving your children in fact finding and reading about history, languages and new cultures, they’ll probably get more from the trip than simply playing 24/7. If you can introduce a creative activity after a different learning experience then it will probably sink in all the deeper. For example: if you’re visiting Spain and you’re getting tired of the coast then head inland to explore a ruined castle or visit a working farm. After your day trip, get the kids to either write or draw about what they did and include some souvenirs from their tour in a scrap book or digital folder.
Split kid time and adult time
As mentioned, family holidays are often seen as kid holidays and from mum and dad getting up in the night to only doing things that the children want to do, there’s not much change from home life, especially for the stay-at-home parent. If you’re travelling as a couple then consider taking a day off to do something that you want to do whilst the other parent looks after the kids. This is a great means of both bonding with your children on a one-to-one basis as well as giving your partner time off for good behaviour. Alternatively, tell the kids that the morning is mummy and daddy time at the art gallery and the afternoon is kid time at the water park. Just make sure you have the children’s activity after yours so you can reward them for good behaviour or take away if they’re being naughty.
Chris is a father of two and looking forward to his next family adventure holidays in Portugal where he’ll, hopefully, be swimming, water parking and visiting some ancient ruins.
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