This is a guest post.
So many new parents assume that the moment kids make an appearance their days of worldly wanderings are over. True, your days of dancing to dawn with a hunky Swede at a full moon party may be behind you, but I’m here to tell you that traveling with the nippers in tow actually makes travel more enjoyable, not less.
What better way to get excited about a new town or country than being able to see it through the eyes of a child? That sense of wonder you have when seeing the Great Wall of China or the Leaning Tower of Pisa for the first time will be amplified tenfold when it’s accompanied by the joyous squeals of your little mini-mes.
With all that said, I’m not going to sugarcoat things, traveling with kids can be exhausting. It also requires Olympian levels of patience and copious amounts of pre-trip preparation. And all of these requirements are amplified if you’re a parent traveling alone with kids.
Below I am going to let you in on a few tips and words of wisdom I wish someone had told me before I hit the road with my children.
Relax, people are nice
In the West we have developed a frankly ridiculous fear of ‘stranger danger’, the worry that if we don’t keep a constant eye on our children some shadowy figure is going to swoop in and steal them. A situation that statistically is almost never going to happen. The good news is that this ridiculous paranoia doesn’t exist in most other parts of the world.
From India to Vietnam to the Philippines, one universal truth holds true, people adore kids and have no fear showing it. Don’t be surprised if a complete strange plucks your baby from your arms and begins to swing them around to squeals of glee. In Kenya, a random mama on the bus will happily plonk her baby on your lap while she heads off to the bathroom.
Traveling with your kids will be a far more relaxing experience if you learn to relax, it’s highly unlikely anyone is going to steal your child. Obviously be vigilant for general dangers such as traffic, water hazards and unhygienic foods, but in general traveling with children is no more risky than being in your hometown.
Utilize social media and expat networks
Yes, Facebook is spying on you, it’s spying on all of us, but if we put civil liberty violations aside for one moment, social media is also an unbelievable tool for finding out information when traveling. Any town with even a modest expat community will likely have a fairly active Facebook group. Somewhere people ask each other the important questions in life, such as, “where can I get wheatgrass for my smoothies?” and the like.
If you know you’re going to be in a town for more than a couple of days it pays off to join these groups. What do you have to lose? Enquire about childcare facilities, best places to go with little ones, ask if anyone is up for a play date, etc. Utilize the knowledge of those who have lived somewhere for a while and have local knowledge.
I am constantly flabbergasted at just how unbelievably welcoming expats are and how willing they are to share tips and advice.
Ensure they get enough sleep
No matter your age, no matter where in the world you are, one thing is essential – getting enough sleep. You will find traveling with kids much much easier and crankiness levels much lower if both you and your little ones all have a good night’s rest under your belt.
For more information on a good night’s rest head over to the Sleep Advisor online.
Getting kids to sleep is obviously easier said than done, especially when you add new and unfamiliar sleeping arrangements into the mix. The best way to ensure they get a good night’s rest is to make sure they are genuinely tired when their heads hit the pillow, this means ensuring they get enough exercise during the day and that their little minds aren’t overstimulated by screens before bed.
Try your hardest to keep some of the same pre-bed routines you have established at home. Try and keep regular bedtimes and ensure you have a good wind-down period of at least an hour before bed that doesn’t involve smartphones, tablets, tv or any over stimulating activity. Nothing beats the old-school low-tech power of a good bedtime story.
Let your kids take control
This may sound like the most preposterous idea you have ever read but bear me out. In my experience keeping your little ones engaged when you are away from home is one of the biggest challenges of traveling, it often isn’t long before you here the classic call of “borrrrrinnnngggg!”.
One solution I have found to delay the inevitable is to let them play tour guide. Not for the entire trip obviously or its likely every day will be spent standing in line for ice-cream. But say for maybe an hour each day, or if you’re really brave, for one afternoon, or even a full day, a week.
Get them to suggest where you go, what you do, where you eat and go along with it – within reason. It’s a great way to get them interested in a location and feel more involved in the trip and should hopefully reduce the feeling that they are just being dragged around from place to place.
Well, there you have it, four tips to help you survive traveling with your kids. Believe me, it is one of the most rewarding things you will ever do. Not only will the shared memories stay with you forever, experiencing other cultures is a great way to help your children grow up as well-rounded and outward looking citizens of the world! Happy travels!