Being a parent is hard already, but the challenges they face get magnified when parents travel with their kids. What is supposed to be a relaxing and fun time with the family, turns into a harsh reality check when parents realize that managing kids while traveling can be testing if one isn’t prepared. You feel like things used to be more peaceful at home and start regretting the holiday plan as soon as your plane takes off.
But worry not fellow parents, these challenges can be overcome with resolve and patience as I help you navigate these testing times. Hopefully the solutions I propose today will make you become an expert traveler even if your beautiful creations run amok.
Why Can Managing Kids Be Hard While On Vacation?
The saying “if you want to get to know a person, travel together” speaks volumes here. It has never been more true than when traveling with kids. As you’re traveling together, you spend more time together, and there are no rooms to hide in or a boss calling you to work. You’re there for the experience, and there is no running away from it, and that includes your kids.
But it is not their fault, kids have high energy levels and can become easily bored if you do not match their energy levels. So if you can’t manage to distract them, they will become fussy and easily irritable. It is why you’d notice that the quiet ones are usually the ones thoroughly immersed in their cell phone screens.
But if you take away their gadgets or if the battery runs out, they no longer have anything interesting to do, and it is when they become tiny little monsters creating havoc on the airplane, disturbing everyone and embarrassing you, the parent, in the process.
But it is something parents don’t account for and easily overlook, especially if the family is traveling together for the first time. Plus, parents are already exhausted due to the stress of booking hotels, making all the traveling arrangements, and buying tickets.
And if you’re anything like me, you are wired to the limit thinking about the vacation or worried about missing the flight. So you don’t get any sleep the night before, and you can’t be bothered about handling kids on the plane.
But this is natural and why most parents find it difficult to handle kids while traveling. So here’s what you need to do.
Partake in Physical Activity the Day Before Traveling
Doing some physical work the day before traveling can be wonderful as exercise can help calm the nerves and you will be tired by the time you go to bed, have a more peaceful sleep, and won’t be up all night from travel anxiety.
And this works magic for young kids too. But instead of hitting the gym or doing manual labor, you can make the activity more fun, so your kids are more likely to participate. You can play your kids’ favorite sports with them, play hide n seek, or a simple game of tag where everyone runs all over the place can work miracles.
They will be too exhausted the next day to throw tantrums on the flight because they would have spent their entire energy the day before and gone to sleep early, so they wake up hungry and tired the next day.
I do this with my kids when we are about to go on vacation. We go swimming together, and I challenge them to do laps with me. Whoever does the most laps wins and gets to eat ice cream afterward. But the best thing about this is, they are never able to beat me because I used to be a professional swimmer during college. It’s evil but not as evil as an annoying child crying during a long flight.
Ensure They Don’t Get Lost
When you’re in a foreign place, there are numerous attractions that you and your kids haven’t seen or only seen photos or videos of. And whenever there is such a sight that has taken all their attention, they are most likely going to wander off and get lost.
It can be a very stressful and even dangerous situation, given what kind of a place you’re at and what their customs are. If your kids see a candy shop, they’re gonna run off, they see a man holding some exotic animal, they will run off. The opportunities are endless. It is why you need to be ready beforehand and install the kids tracking app for Android and iOS. And the app I recommend is XNSPY.
XNSPY can track kids and help keep them safe because it is an app to monitor kids’ activities remotely. By using the application, parents will automatically get updated on all the activities on their kids’ phones.
In our case, it is a game-changer because this kids’ tracking app for Android and iOS can keep kids out of danger by alerting parents of their exact location in real-time. If you were busy sightseeing and your kids suddenly left your sight, instead of panicking you log in to your XNSPY account, open the label marked Locations and see their location on the digital map included in the app.
It helps you catch up to them before they can go any further and get into trouble with some of the uptight locals who find it difficult to see the humor in things. I have used the app to monitor kids’ activities remotely and on many occasions, more than I’d like to admit.
It has even been lifesaving for many young travelers’ excursions to dangerous locations. Because if you just know the device’s last known location, you can open the frequently visited spots section on the app’s control panel to find nearby places the device owner might have visited. It is why it can be a great travel tech for your wilderness experiences.
Plan Activities Around Your Kids
When you’re traveling with kids, the best course of action is to plan your holiday around the hobbies and activities your kids enjoy. It means that you will have to sacrifice some of the things you enjoy for your kids’ happiness which is what being a parent is all about, isn’t it? But this way, your kids will have less to complain which is a win-win for everyone, in my opinion.
And to make them feel more welcome, include them when you’re planning your activities so they feel heard and appreciated. Since they will have something fun to look forward to, they will be in a better mood and less likely to have an outburst.
Thus the happier the kids are, the more peace and tranquility will be in your lives, but as always, it’s a balancing act, and you don’t have to give in to their every whim. Teach them how to compromise and divide the plans that you both agree on like visiting an amusement park or a safari park or going deep sea diving.
With these tips, your next trip with your kids will involve a lot less hassle and be more enjoyable and relaxing, and your kids might even learn to live without their gadgets for a while. I can’t promise the last one though.
