Planning a Stress Free Vacation with Kids

It is quickly coming to that time of year; Summer vacation. It is amazing how by the end of the school year (we are 4 weeks away) I am looking forward to not having to wake my children up every morning, and by the beginning of the school year I am so ready to get back to the routine I am starting two weeks before school starts. 🙂

While summer is about a break from the routine, remember that routine is simply about looking ahead at the day and preparing yourself and your kids in order to avoid as many complications as possible. (Ex. I know my children will be up late because we are going out, so they need to take a nap around 1pm, be up around 4, ready to go by 5.) So with that in mind, let’s look at our summer vacation planning. With kids there will always be the unexpected, but with a little planning you can make it a much smoother and enjoyable trip. Here are a few tips I have found make my trip easier:

1) Plan your trip to be kid friendly:

Be sure to pick a place that will have kid activities; a swimming pool is a must. When you call the hotel, be sure to ask for a room close to the pool. While you may not always get it, you might and it will make life much easier. (Unless of course you make the mistake my sister and I did at Spring break. We were right at the pool, and though it was not warm enough to swim yet our kids nagged us the entire weekend to go swimming. So in the summer a room by the pool is great, otherwise request to be out of sight of the thing. 🙂 )

2) Don’t try to plan a lot of activities:

Kids just want to be by the pool. I know they have one at home, but they do not care. Keep in mind that the idea of the trip is to relax. Plan to have one activity (or two small ones) a day, and then plan to relax whether it be by the pool or the beach, just chill. Too much activity will wear them out, and stress you out.

3) When planning your travel time pad it by at least an hour!

If you have a 6 hour drive with no stops you need to plan time for a meal or two, and then add an extra hour. This helps allow you to not be stressing out over the extra stops, and you would actually be a very smart mom to just plan to stop at a rest stop periodically, drain them, and then run them for awhile. Maybe keep a soccer ball handy and go wear them out for about 20 minutes.

4) Plan travel time around their sleep time:

One trip we went on with another couple, we left about 10pm, and made our 6 hour trip in about 5 hours. Why? 1- no traffic whatsoever and 2- the kids slept the whole way. We got their about 3 am slept until about 7 and then had the entire day with a stress free drive. The adults actually got some conversation in! Nap times are also a great thing to plan around. If nap time is around 1pm. You pack up with them fed and leave around 1pm. Chances are they are going to dose off for a couple of hours out of the trip.

5) Plan your trip to come back one day earlier than when everyone else expects you.

If you have a nice relaxing trip only to have to rush back,and jump into the daily grind the next day, not able to catch up laundry or unpack bags, you are simply wiping away all of your rest in the week of your return. So if you have to return to work on Monday come home on Saturday afternoon. I know you feel like you should have one more day, but trust me. If you get home Saturday afternoon or evening, sleep in on Sunday and unpack, catch up the laundry, etc. You will be ready for Monday and not flying into the next week unprepared. You will be so thankful to me if you only take this one tip. Even if you are a stay at home mom, having the hubby there while you are trying to do all the catching up, and having him there to help with the kids, etc. will still make a huge difference on you and him. (Him having a day before he goes back to work to not have to drive, or fly, will help him be more prepared for Monday as well.)

Hope these tips help you to enjoy your summer vacation. Let some of the routine go and enjoy the break, but don’t throw the baby out with the beach water! 🙂