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Health & Fitness

Do I Really Have To Travel With My Toddlers? Really?

Tips and tricks to make traveling with children a little easier, at least that is my hope.

There are few things that strike real fear and anxiety in me.  One of them is traveling with my 3 year old twins.  Don't get me wrong, my kids are fantastic and I wouldn't trade motherhood for anything, but they are not wired to sit still for more than 20 minutes, and that's on a good day.  This poses a serious problem for me come summertime, because as a family, we travel almost every weekend over the summer and most of the traveling is by way of ferry, car or a combo of both.  I have searched high and low for items and activities to keep my children blissfully unaware of the inevitable horrors of summertime travel.  I am offering my suggestions and ideas of things that have worked for me in the past (no travel yet this year) but, I really would love to hear what some of you have found to work.

First things first.  You can't travel with a toddler without some sort of a sippy cup, and snack.  I try to keep the mess to a minimum and found that a cute water bottle like this one by Lipstick Shades keeps drinks cold and kids occupied with colorful pictures.  I also want to mention that since I do have twins, I like to try and keep them contained when we are on the ferry.  That being said, I believe that these chairs by Inglesina are brilliant! Seriously, you will not be sorry if you buy them.  There also is no traveling without the "iNanny".  I load tons of kid friendly apps and tv shows on it.  My kids adore coloring, but trying to figure out a compact way to fit crayons, books, chalk, erasers, etc into my bag is not such an easy task.  A friend introduced me to these adorable Crayola Doodlebugz Crayon Keepers, Doodlebagz, and Chalkboard Placemats.  They are available in an array of colors, personalized or not.  You can and WILL thank me later!  I also purchase a ton of stickers from the dollar store and keep them in the Doodlebag so they are always available for them.  While working in a restaurant, we discovered Wikki Stix to give out to the brave tables with kids.  Some of the Wikki Stix come pre-packed with an activity page, they are small enough for little hands to manipulate them and most of all, they are disposable, which makes them a most perfect traveling companion.

I wish you all happy trails and look forward to hearing your ideas! Free free to share them in the comment section below.

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