Traveling with Kids

My family is scattered all over the country, but every summer we all get together for a family reunion. I live the furthest away, and travel by plane. We use to see my family twice a year, but as our family has grown, we now only visit once a year. Over the years, I have compiled an array of humorous, messy, and trying stories of my family traveling via airplane: blow outs, pull-ups leaking onto seats, children who are afraid of airplane bathrooms and cry (I don’t blame them), delay after delay, lost luggage containing all the diapers, stuck overnight due to inclement weather, holding a baby on the airplane while trying to help another sibling, cups spilling on other passengers, temper tantrums, and a stomach bug. I am sure I am missing something, but overall, traveling with small children has been hard.

No matter the trouble, it’s always worth it to see my family. I love seeing my kids play with their cousins. The house is chaotic as seven other cousins run, cry, play, laugh, and yell about the place. The fun part is being with my family. The hard part is getting there, but I have learned a few things from traveling with children. The things I have learned have made traveling easier for me mentally.

Stop Being Embarrassed

The most important thing I have learned is to not be embarrassed, but instead be patient. My children do best when the day is predictable and when the younger ones get their naps. Taking away the routine and skipping the naps leaves me with some very unhappy children. To make it even more difficult, we are squished with other people on an airplane where they can all hear and watch our small children lose their minds. It’s embarrassing, but after traveling so much with kids, I know that the tantrums are not a judge of whether I am a good mom or not. The tantrums are due to exhaustion. I have to remind myself of that every time I see people glaring at my tired children.

I have seen other families with children throwing fits on airplanes, so I am not the only one. Fortunately, this last flight we took, an older gentleman, who was hard of hearing, sat next to me and my two-year old and four month old. He said my children were very good! They were both tired, but I appreciated his kind comment.

I don’t expect my children to behave perfectly when traveling, but I always brace myself for more difficulties than a normal day. At this point, it doesn’t bother me so much if my two-year old throws a tantrum in public. I don’t like it and I take time to remind of her how she is suppose to behave, but it’s part of parenting and living life.

More Understanding Towards Other Travelers

There are two groups of people that we come across when traveling; those who are parents and those who are not parents. The people who are parents are naturally more sympathetic and understanding of how hard it can be to travel with kids. They often give kind and encouraging comments about our family. Also, they seem to like seeing families traveling with their kids.

However, those who are not parents are sometimes, but certainly not always, less understanding and unfortunately sometimes rude. We have had unkind comments about our children because they were exhausted and crying. That will happen if you’ve been traveling for over twelve hours with babies and toddlers. What they don’t know is that they are seeing our family at our worst. Because they don’t have children or spend time with children, they probably think that’s how we normally are. What they see is what they judge us by. Not everyone in the world is going to be understanding of children, but knowing that they might not be familiar with children helps me respond nicely to them.

Final Thoughts

I should mention that we have had good flights too! We have had smooth traveling and great times with my family. We never know what’s going to happen, but overall, I think it’s great to bring kids along and go on adventures together, even if it’s hard. The reward is that my childen can know their cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandma who all live far away. It's hard to travel while the kids are little, but I know it gets easier as they get older. I have seen my oldest son mature and change from a child who needs help to a child who can help. Toddlers don’t stay toddlers. They grow and become more mature, which is something that is hard to understand when you’re surrounded by very small children all the time. Lastly, the funny thing about my kids is that they only remember the good parts of our trips. They block out all the hard or less fun parts. I wish I could do that. In the end, it’s worth it to travel with your family.