A lot of people avoid traveling when their kids are very young. When you have a baby, you have to bring along a stroller, diapers, and so much more. Plus, you have to pay a lot more money on travel for the child, but he or she will never actually remember or appreciate the trip. When you have a toddler, however, your child can walk on two feet, and you can start to build memories together. You can look to Hipmunk as a guide for all the best places to travel with a child, but for now here are five helpful tips for traveling with toddlers.
- Make sure to have wipes on you. When you are having a meal with a toddler, you’ll notice that only about half the food gets into their mouth, while the other half goes everywhere else. That’s why you should always keep some wet wipes on you. Otherwise, within no time that kid is going to not only have food, but dirt all over his or her face. You also want to make sure to keep their hands clean so that they don’t get everything dirty within reach.
- Keep a spare set of clothes on you. As much as you may be able to clean the food and dirt off of a child’s hands and face, you can’t always get it off of their clothes right away. Also, toddlers can often get scared when they’re in new environments and soil themselves. So you want to always keep a spare set of clothes for each child you’re traveling with – you never know when you might need them.
- Be sure you’re watching them if you’re not holding hands. The thing about toddlers is that they’re highly mobile. That means they like to take off running at any moment. If you’re walking around with a toddler, it’s important that you always hold hands, especially if you’re ever crossing the street. If you’re inside, be sure that you’re constantly keeping an eye out, because you just never know what may happen.
- Always keep snacks on you. As an adult, it’s easy to eat a hearty meal and be satisfied for a few hours at a time. For kids, however, their appetites don’t often allow them to eat large meals in one sitting. Instead, they need a constant intake of calories all day. That’s why it’s always important to have little snacks on you at all times. Things like granola bars, crackers, yogurt and string cheese are great. Plus, you will save money by not having to stop and buy unhealthy treats along the way.
- Carve out time to exercise. If you are traveling with a toddler, it’s important that you give that child an opportunity to burn off all that excess energy every few hours. A toddler has just started learning how to run, and climb, and jump around, and it’s important that they have the opportunity to build all of those muscles. So be sure that you make time for running and around and playing. In the end, that’s all they really want to do.