Traveling with toddlers and preschoolers

Welcome back to the traveling with kids series!

My last post was about traveling with babies, and since we recently traveled to Texas with my 15 month old and 3 year old, I thought I would talk about traveling with toddlers/preschoolers! We actually moved back to the states when my oldest was 14 months old, so it was funny remembering how different Camden and Lucy are as traveling toddlers!

The most important thing about traveling with any age child is to keep their routine with eating and sleeping. Make sure you have enough food for protein rich meals and snacks. The worst thing is a fussy toddler who has only been eating goldfish all morning! Pack food/snacks in individual bags or containers so there are a lot of "new" things to get out of the bag. Little bags of hot dog/chicken/turkey/beans/hummus, etc. are great for protein, and I also like to pack little bags of snack foods or fruit, too. Remember that too many sugary snacks for a toddler that they aren't used to eating can be hard on their stomachs and also wire them up and make it harder on you! I like to add a few new foods they haven't seen before to keep it interesting as well. You can also ask the flight attendant to bring you a cup of water with a lid for your toddler. I also ask for mine with a lid/straw as well to avoid spills! I have had a drink or two spilled on my lap by a 2 year old before I learned that trick!

The other important thing to remember is to plan flights/drives around nap times. If it's a long flight, chances are that your child will need to take a nap during your travels. I prefer for the kids to sleep during the flight/drive so that I get a little break during the travels. Between the ages of 1-2.5, I have found my kids are the most active/busy (I prefer to say this rather than "difficult"), so having a little rest during the trip is nice for all parties involved. Know how your child will rest the best in a car or a plane. Or bring some options if it's your first time. For my oldest, we would literally have to hold him so tightly as a toddler until he fell asleep in our arms bc he wasn't used to doing that. Bring favorite pacis, blankets, or stuffed toys that your child sleeps with. On the trains in Europe, we knew our son fell asleep best in the stroller as a toddler, so we would keep the stroller open in the entry car until he fell asleep. You can even bring soothing music for the car or use your phone as a white noise machine if they are used to that in their room. The natural white noise on an airplane/train/car has usually been enough for my kids, although this flight to Texas, Lucy kept waking up during her bedtime sleep cycle and we had to keep sushing and rocking her back to sleep like a baby! After my oldest fell asleep on a plane, he would sleep for at least a couple of hours on the long flight back from London. During our recent car trip last week, we planned to start driving right when both kids would normally be napping, and as luck would have it, they both slept for the entire 2.5 hour drive!! So use that to your advantage!

To pack toys, or not to pack toys!? This is the one thing I always go back and forth on, and something I have also observed from friends/other strangers during my travels with kids. It seems most people are lugging giant bags of toys around the airport that their kids never even use. On a road trip to San Francisco (6 hours from LA) recently, I forgot to pack any "toddler/baby" toys for Lucy and she didn't seem to care as long as the kids music was on. I think we listened to "Under the Sea" 30 times while we waited 2 hours at the end of our drive to get through the bridge toll at the bay bridge!!! Camden (3.5) was content to draw/color and watch his show on the iPad as well. Also try to remember  what we did as kids on road trips before DVD players and iPads, too! Games, art, and  talking with each other about the scenery outside and where we were going is also fun! As far as planes are concerned, this 3 hour flight from LA to TX, we only brought a few board books for my 15 month old to thumb through when she got bore and a play cell phone. She looked at the books during take off and landing, had some snacks and water and went to sleep for an hour and a half in between. I'm so glad we didn't over load our bags with a million toys! My oldest did the same thing he did in the car (art and iPad). We also spent a long time talking about the plane and where we were headed. We never even got out the magazines or cards in the seat back pocket like we normally do! Please post below for any questions or other ideas to add for traveling with toddlers and preschoolers!