5 tips for making travel safe and stress-free with kids

‘Tis the season for travel, and no one can relate to that more than I can! 

This month, my husband and I were excited but a little anxious about preparing for our first long car ride as a family of three! So how did we prepare for an eight-hour road trip with our eighteen-month-old daughter? Well I'm happy you asked!

To keep everything running as smoothly as possible with a toddler, here are some things we did to prepare for our trip while keeping safety in mind!  

Packed our patience (and medications)  

We packed all medicine (including prescriptions and over-the-counter medications) in their original, childproof containers. While this may have taken up more space when packing, we felt confident that we would have everything we needed, and our daughter would be safe from getting into something she shouldn’t! 

Stayed plugged into technology  

My husband charged our devices and downloaded our road trip playlists and movies for our daughter ahead of time. This helped prevent distracted driving because everything was already pre-loaded and ready to go! 

Car seat, check!  

I checked our daughter’s car seat to make sure it was properly installed prior to travel. I also cleaned it up a bit by vacuuming out crumbs and wiping down the cup holders. It won’t stay clean for long, but it is safely installed!

If you need help with your car seat, you can always visit a car seat fitting station to have your seat checked by a certified child passenger safety technician before your own trip.  

Prepared to be cool in the pool  

We planned to swim on our trip, so we made sure to pack our bright colored bathing suits and a coastguard 

approved flotation device for our daughter.

Click here to learn more about water safety and how to dress your child to be safe in the water.  

We also made sure to have our sunscreen packed and ready to go to make sure no one gets burned!  

Expected the best, but prepared for the worst  

No one wants to have to go to the hospital while travelling, but we know that it is a good idea to know where pediatric hospitals are located while travelling with kids. If something bad does happen, taking my little one to a pediatric hospital can help her get the specialized care she needs! So, I looked up the locations of the nearest pediatric emergency departments, just in case!  

We also had plenty of snacks packed and planned to take breaks from driving every few hours during our trip, just to be safe! 

While we can never prepare for everything, we prepped for just about any hiccups a trip might send our way! And that made it easy for us to enjoy all the beautiful memories we made along the way!

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