When you are on a long road trip with preschoolers, things can get a little noisy.  After hearing “are we there yet?” thirteen times in two miles, you might begin to wish you and your kids had just stayed home.

But, weary traveling parent, relax. There is hope.

Planning is key when introducing your preschoolers to the joys of the road trip.

Provide entertainment – The night before the trip, ask each child to choose three to five toys or activities to bring along. Helping choose the activities make the child feel a part of the trip, and they are likely to pick activities they will enjoy.

In addition to the child picked activities, mom or dad should pack a few activities as surprises. Unexpected toys will help break the monotony of road travel. Coloring books and crayons, books, pocket games, window markers and play clay will help keep your child occupied.

When the toys and games from home lose their ability to entertain, turn to fun and interesting road games. See who can find more blue cars in two miles, or count out of state license plates. Older kids will have fun counting how many license plates have the letter “C” or the number 4. Parents and kids can take turns telling a story, round robin style. One person starts, telling the beginning of the story and then passes it on to someone else. The next person continues the story, and then passes to the next.

It’s inevitable, one hundred miles from nowhere your child will pipe out with, “Mommy, I’m hungry.”  And, we all know, a hungry preschooler is a whiney, unhappy preschooler. Be prepared for middle of nowhere snack requests with fun, easy to eat snacks prepared and waiting in a cooler. Sliced apples and peanut butter, celery stuffed with cream cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches cut into fun shapes, veggie sticks, or bananas make great on-the-road snacks for preschoolers. Choose drinks with a minimal amount of sugar for the trip, you don’t want your kids hyper and restless because of too much sugar. Juice boxes or pouches are not good choices in the car. When your child squeezes the container, juice will spray the entire car.     

Road trips with your preschooler can be a fun chance to learn about and with each other. Plan ahead with healthful snacks and fun activities and make the trip memorable for all of you.

Going on a road trip with toddlers can be stressful, but if you think ahead and anticipate what you will need you and your child can have more fun and arrive at your destination calm and relaxed. If you don’t have what you need, it will make the trip a lot harder on both of you.

Keep things you will need while driving in a centralized location. Usually, bringing your diaper bag and placing it in the passenger’s seat or on the floor between the front seats is a good idea. Pack the diaper bag with all the necessities: diapers for the trip, wipes, your child’s favorite blanket, toddler safe snacks, water, non-spill cup and toys.  In the trunk, be sure to pack several full changes of clothes for your child and a change of shirt for yourself.

Be choosy when packing for the long car ride.  Only take your child’s favorite toys and favorite books. If you are unsure what to bring, tell your child to go pick the toys they want to take with. 

Weather is always a key factor in planning for your trip. Be sure to check the weather forecast for area you are traveling to, bring clothes that will match the temperature and keep your toddler comfortable. Also, if your toddler is breastfeeding, remember to bring a blanket or cover up, for privacy.

Choose car snacks carefully. As you pack your food, consider what will be easy and least messy.  Sliced soft vegetables and fruits make for a great healthy snack.  Crackers and dry breakfast cereal work well. They are easy to eat and easy to clean up.

 Remember to cut your child’s snacks into small pieces to prevent choking. 

A little planning goes a long way to making road trips with your toddler fun.

Let’s face it, if children were to pick their favorite ways to travel, trains would likely come in dead last.  They ride along, staring at the same sibling across the car for the length of the trip.  Kids can only stare out the windows at passing telephone poles for so long before they get bored.  Forethought and planning are a necessity, in order to help mom and dad keep their sanity to the end of the line.

Infants are fascinated with new things and places, so they often handle traveling surprisingly well.  Toddlers and preschoolers require a bit more thought. 

When planning the trip, keep the kids in mind.  While adults and older children might  be able to handle a twelve hour layover without flinching, younger children will get tired of sitting in the same place for so long.  If a layover is absolutely necessary,  try to plan some  kind of  distraction, like a trip to a local park.  Keep in mind that after being cooped up in a train car all day, they will likely have a lot of energy to burn off, so parks and playgrounds will probably work better than museums or theaters.

With most young children, the best time for the boring part of the trip—the actual traveling—is during the night or naptime.  The rhythm of the train and the boredom will combine to put most children right to sleep. 

If nighttime travel isn’t an option, then be sure to bring along things to entertain and occupy the kids.  When selecting these items, gather a variety, rather than one or two favorites, because even a favorite book can get boring after the sixth reading.

Even the most boring of train rides doesn’t have to be a disaster.  With careful planning ahead of time, most children will enjoy the “quality time” spent with their parents along the way.

When flying with babies and young toddlers, the most difficult part of the flight is likely to be take off and landing.

As the plane gains altitude the cabin pressure changes, making the air pressure around the inner ear off balance. This causes pressure on the inner ear drum, uncomfortable enough for an adult, but usually very painful for a baby or small child who can’t pop their ears.

Experienced traveling parents know there are a few tricks you can use to help minimize the pressure and keep your child comfortable. While making take off more pleasant for your child doesn’t guarantee a peaceful, relaxing flight, it will to a long way to making baby’s flight less stressful.

First, try to plan ahead and schedule a fight close to your baby’s regular feeding time. Breastfeeding is the most effective way to calm your fussy baby and minimize that inner ear pressure. If you don’t breastfeed, or are uncomfortable nursing in public, offer baby a bottle or pacifier as the plane takes off.

For a toddler, try putting earplugs or cotton balls in their ears before take off. The earplugs will help equalize the pressure.

Be sure your child’s favorite comfort item is not under the plane. Stash it in your carry on bag and give it to your child before take off and landing. Having a familiar cuddle item will help your child cope with the odd sensations in their ears.

Older children can chew gum and make funny faces, opening their mouth as wide as they can. Also, before the flight teach your older child to pop their ears by holding their nose and blowing.

By taking a few simple steps to eliminate the pain of take off and landing you will ensure a more pleasant flight for your baby, yourself, and your fellow passengers.

Sometimes the kids have to fly alone.  Maybe because it’s too expensive for the parents to fly a round trip to drop off the kids with grandma, or maybe there’s an emergency where the parents have to put the child on the plane by themselves.  Regardless, there are times when the kids have to fly by themselves.

Fortunately, the airlines recognize that this situation happens, and they do try to assist the parents as best they can.  Most airlines will assign a flight attendant to the child, and that person will make sure the child is comfortable on the flight, makes his connection to the next flight, and will hand the child off to the responsible adult at his destination.

If you need to send the child on his way, think ahead.  Don’t saddle the kid with carry on baggage that weighs as much as he does.  Try to pack light, with perhaps just a backpack containing a change of clothes and some favorite books and toys.  Don’t forget medications and contact information, either.  The child shouldn’t have to remember the name, address, and phone number of the relative he’s going to visit; he should be able to just hand over a sheet of paper with all of that information.

Think about security, too.  You might want to establish a code word, a secret password that only the relative on the far end will know.  Besides the obvious—“yes, this is the right grown-up”—the code word will also help to comfort the child, as a link to his parents (“My parents really did talk to them and give them the secret word, that means they know where I am and everything is going to be okay.”).

Most of all, reassure the child that they will make it to their destination safe and sound, and return home when the trip is done.