4 Mom Hacks for Traveling with Young Kids

Our favorite thing to do as a family is travel. We love traveling year round, but we really love traveling in the summer when our schedule is more flexible. We’ve been out of school for two weeks now, and have one trip under our belts, with a bunch more planned for the next two months.

Travel gets trickier as we have more children, but we’ve found some things that make our travel so much more enjoyable even with three kids in tow. I’ve teamed up with Gerber to share four of of my travel mom hacks that have made all the difference for us!

Always pack snacks.

When we’re traveling, the hardest thing for me is to keep my children eating healthy, especially my baby. He’s heading into a picky phase, so he turns his nose up at lots of fruits and veggies, and it’s a constant challenge to keep him eating more than french fries and bread. Gerber just came out with their new Gerber® Grabbers® with the Smart Flow™ spout, and they’re basically the best thing that’s ever happened to me. They’re a squeeze pouch with healthy baby food in them, and the Smart Flow ™ spout helps to prevent the pouch from exploding all over him when he squeezes it too hard.

It’s the best for passing back to him in his carseat on road trips, or bringing on the plane, or bringing into a restaurant so I know he’s getting nutritional food and there won’t be a huge mess. Best mom hack ever.

Choose a travel book.

We started this tradition a few years ago when we went to San Francisco for Thanksgiving. I read aloud to the boys all the time, and for our trip we chose a special new travel book that I would read to them while we stood in line for lunch, while we waited for the train, or if they got bored at a landmark and needed a little break. It was a great way to keep them from begging for my phone, complaining and whining, or fighting with each other.

Choose your destinations wisely.

Before we had kids, we traveled to a lot of historical cities with museums and walking tours. We still want to do those kinds of trips, but we’ve realized that with little kids, we need to choose destinations that are really kid friendly. We’ll get to those big cities with them a few years down the road. For now, we choose beach vacations, or resorts with big, fun pools, or a city with a great children’s museum. If we cater to their needs, we all enjoy ourselves so much more, and we never feel like we’ve wasted our money on a trip where everyone is complaining!

Go in with low expectations.

My sister was in town last week and we spent a day at a local amusement park. We talked about how important it is as parents to lower your expectations about everything during travel in order to have a good time. If you’re going to an amusement park, don’t expect to ride all the biggest, fastest roller coasters, because you’ll probably spend most of your time in the kiddie ride area. I’ve found that if I choose one thing that I want to do (like riding a big roller coaster, or visiting a particular site, or eating at a specific restaurant), I tell my husband or family members, and then plan our day or trip to make sure that one thing happens. It’s not too much to ask, and it’s important to keep your expectations low, but still make time for you so you’re happy.

Check out the Gerber® Grabbers® with the Smart Flow™ spout right here to get a $1 off coupon, and share your favorite mom hacks or traveling hack in the comments!