Hey everyone, today I wanted to cover possibly the most stressful thing you will ever encounter in your life, traveling with multiple children under 5!
First off, there is no way to make this easy, but there’s so many ways you can make it bearable for sure and make things at least a little easier in the long run, and I’m talking from real experience here.
First off, cooler box. Absolutely necessary, do not go anywhere without it. It can hold pre-mixed formula for 8 hours, or if you’re traveling by car you can have a mini 12v cooler attached to your car that will keep bottles cool for 24 hours, so get that depending on how far you are going.
Plenty of stops
If you’re traveling with kids, you need to stop every half an hour for the toilet. What we do though is we give them drinks 1 hour before we go, toilet as we are about to leave and then time when you give them their drinks too. Plan a stop for 2 hours in, and give them their drinks half an hour before you arrive, that way they’ll empty ready for the next stretch.
Keep calm
Keeping calm is imperative, do not shout at the kids because this will make every part of the journey to come so hard, especially if it’s early on as you will have set the bar. Speak quietly and your kids will lower their volume to hear what you’re saying.
Rent a car if you need to
If you have a small car and you’re traveling by car, rent one that will fit you, the kids and all of the luggage in too. If you can, get one with AC in the back, so the kids don’t melt.
Snacks
This one goes without saying, the easiest way to keep children busy in the back of a car on a long journey is snacks (and either games or a film). Make sure you choose healthy snacks that aren’t too sugary so there’s no sugar rushes and crashes.
Time it
We generally travel at night for one main reason, the kids will fall asleep about an hour into the journey and we can peacefully listen to quiet music and snack away. Make sure your car seats recline especially if the children are older.
Conclusion
To conclude, traveling with kids is stressful, but there’s so many ways you can mitigate the stress and keep their attention fixed so they don’t keep shouting ‘are we there yet?’, the more prep you do, the easier this will be!