By: Lisa Brown
Over the past 19 days I have been on the road with my three little boys traveling the Midwest. We have been to 5 different states and had many days of adventure. Some of our adventure was where we stayed the night or a few days. We have stayed at campgrounds in tents, RV’s, and cabins. We stayed with friends and family, hotels, and a large house rented with 30 of our extended family members. With all those places I have found some universal truths about traveling with small children and I hope some of my experiences can help you on your next overnight outing with your family.
First off the bat would be packing. I had a very large plan about how we would pack and were things would go. Sadly I am a large procrastinator so an hour before we were to be on the road for three weeks, I was throwing things in bags and onto our front lawn for my husband to put in the van. He was not coming with us so he tried his best bit things were all over the place in the van. My suggestion for pack would be to try and keep like things together but keep it to the bare minimum.We packed about two bags of things we never used and they took up valuable space.
Next you need to know your child or children’s limits for how much time they can spend in the car. My boys can last an hour and a half at most in the car. About when the 2 hour mark hits they start getting mean or whinny with one another so it is very important to get them out of the car and do something. We had stops along the way to accommodate this type of behavior, but at some points we just had to stop at a playground or a store to walk around before getting back in the car.
When thinking about what to eat on a camping vacation or long road trip, now is not the time to be a foodie. In my opinion you can survive on simple things like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cereal, hot dogs, foil packets, etc. I know it is temping to have a huge plan of Pintrest worthy meals but YOU want to be on vacation too. It can be a bit stressful to try and figure out new meals so don’t feel bad if they had sandwiches for the 3rd day in a row (my boys didn’t care at all).
When we arrived at our location I felt it was important to have my boys help. My purpose was two fold. I needed a way to keep them safe and entertained, but I also wanted them to be part of the whole experience. When we arrived at a campsite each boy had a job to do to help set up the tent. My 3 year old was in charge of staking the tent down, my 4 year old worked on putting the poles together, and my 6 year old help put the rain fly on the tent. When arriving at the hotels they helped take the comforter off (they just gross me out) and we checked the corners of the beds for indications of bugs (too many news reports watched by this momma). When we stayed with friends and family we worked on helping with whatever we could.
Lastly, we chose to keep our days to one or two activities only. I had a few days where we tried to do more and those were the days where the boys let me know, through behavior, that it was too much. Let your vacation be a time to reconnect with your family. Every night I asked my boys what their favorite parts of the day was and each night at least one of them would say the time they spent with me.
I have almost survived a three week trip where I am the only adult with three small, energetic, silly boys. It has been an experience where I have learned as much as they have. I would not change it for the world but I will be so happy when I am back in Midland. I hope something of my adventure has given you an idea for the next time you travel with your family. YOU need to enjoy the trip just as much as the kids and recharge. Happy travels!
Lisa Brown is a stay at home mom of three little boys and one of our fabulous Great Lakes Bay Moms Members. When they are not pretending to be super heroes, all 4 can be found in the kitchen making creations for the freezer. For more information on Lisa, look her up at losingit3milesatatime.blogspot.com.