Traveling With Your Family

Family Day weekend is nearly here! In our previous post we shared some fantastic ideas on what to do on family day in Calgary and today we have a post for those of you looking to get out of town with your family this weekend. Local author, Amanda Audit has given us some great tips for traveling with children. Every time you travel with your family is it a memorable occasion and your child will likely be super excited about having a new adventure. Here are some ideas that may help keep your young ones engaged, excited, and your sanity intact.

Make a checklist of the things your child needs packed, and allow your munchkin to help choose their items. Your child’s excitement will build and they will have the satisfaction of knowing they helped.

Bring a couple of their favorite books and maybe a new one. Value Village has some great discount children’s books as well as one for you. (I joke; you probably won’t have time to read.) A search and find book to look at with the kiddos can often eat up some valuable time, if your kids are old enough Where’s Waldo is always a challenge.

Have a notebook for your child to record drawings and memories of their trip. You can write questions in it about their experience, Tic tac toe games, hangman, airport I spy, and of course adding stickers to any notebook is always a hit. Pinterest has a ton of free printable’s  for your travel with little ones, including airport or road trip bingo sheets as well as I spy games. If you’re in a pinch for time, an easy and cheap alternative is the Play Pack that you can get at Michaels or the Dollarama they come ready with an activity book, stickers, and crayons, and cost anywhere from $1.00 to $1.50.

Child safe headphones for their favourite downloaded music or their allowed screen time. If you have an Ipad, downloading a few episodes of your child’s favorite show or a movie can be a nice treat.  (It would also give you a few moments of calm…possibly to read that book mentioned above 😉

Snacks are a must! Be sure to pack double what you think you will need in case of delays. Using an old baby wipes container to hold your little ones lunch works well. I always travel with an empty water bottle which can be filled up after you go through security.

Your travel bag should also contain:

  • Wet ones
  • A change of clothes
  • Ziplock bags- for snack wrappers, soiled clothing ect…
  • Medication(s) – While your children may be amazing travellers, it never hurts to have some Advil as a back-up.
  • Childs favourite stuffy or blanket

The easier your child’s travel experiences the more relaxing and enjoyable yours will be. After all vacation is a time to let go and have fun!

Safe travels,
Amanda Audit

*All images used are courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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