Traveling with Children:

The first time we took our children on a trip, they were 5 and 7 and we set off for a much needed vacation traveling from Seattle to three national parks in Montana and Colorado. Our boys were born overseas so airplanes were nothing new but this was the first trip since I had gone back to work. That meant we parents were exhausted, our boys had missed having mom at home and the time was a precious earned two weeks.

The plane ride was uneventful ,except for the multiple changes of aircraft, we overnighted in Seattle, did a bit of sightseeing, rented our car and started off. After a day or so, the boys began singing their new theme song: "I,m sick, I,m hungry, I,ve gotta go to the bathroom and I,m gonna vomit.the Caaaar Blues" As we traveled along the song got longer and more complicated. It was fortunately all a joke because we had a great, vacation. And by the way, son number one is now a professional comedy writer in Los Angeles!

However, the song isn,t a joke to many families who have not prepared for travel with children. There are some simple suggestions to make your trip safe, fun and a vacation for everyone. After all, we adults are usually the ones who need the rest and who do all the worrying for the family. Besides always keeping a calm exterior NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS!

1. Before starting out on a trip, prepare your children with maps, information, and if you are on line, do some surfing about your destination. It is fun to have kids involved from the beginning. Order free brochures from tourist authorities of countries and from chambers of commerce of towns and cities.
2. Do a test day. Take your children on a long one day driving trip; make sure it is a bit tiring and a very long day. You will get an idea of what can go wrong, who gets tired, carsick, or at least where some of the hitches are found. You will probably also be testing your own endurance and ability to be a tour leader,.
3. Pack as light as possible for the whole family; especially if you are a single parent with a brood of kids. Remember that when everyone is tired, it will be you who carries the luggage. When I traveled by train in Europe with my children without my husband, I always took hotels near the railroad station to make carrying luggage easier. As a test carry the luggage around the block without help from the kids. Similarly have the kids pack their own backpacks and test their ability to carry what they have chosen plus one change of clothing for them. Label any especially loved blanket or toy so you at least have a chance of recovering it if lost. And assume some of their things will get lost.
4. Avoid baggage, clothing and backpacks which have the children,s names emblazoned as a safety precaution. You do not want strangers to know their first names. Talk to them about dealing with strangers and stress the don,t do it message once again. The exception is that if they get lost, they should try to find a person in a uniform or a family with children. The logic about the uniform is that this person is at least probably working for a known company or is military or such.
5. Assign seats in the car especially if you have a large family. There have to be some tough rules if a trip will succeed. By assigning seats, you will not lose anyone along the way.
6. Have your itinerary and important contact numbers on the children somewhere out of sight if they do get lost. Along with that is important medical or other information. You should bring a recent photo of your children with you to identify them again if they wander off. Finally you should be aware of what color they are wearing each day and perhaps assign a color they must wear so that you can quickly find them in a crowd or again, give information to others if they get lost.
7. Hotels are easily checked for friendliness to children: call ahead of time or again use the internet and see how their site is prepared and whether they show children in the photos of patrons. Obviously a swimming pool, cafeteria, etc are signs that the hotel gets lots of kids.
8. When you check into the hotel, you can child-proof it yourself by taking certain measures:
   - check that the windows and doors do not front on the street
   - check that the window locks are higher than children,s reach and that they cannot get caught up in any curtains or blinds.
   - Show children how to get in touch with the front desk if necessary as 911 usually does not work on hotel/motel phones and explain to them not to open the door unless a code is used. You can then create a code for say room service or other to use to enter their room
   - Remove shampoo and other such from their reach so that they do not ingest these.
   - Check that the bathroom cannot be locked from inside-if necessary tape open the lock. By the way tape is a great item to bring along for instant repairs.
   - Check that children can actually see out the peep hole and that they can double lock the door if necessary. Older children should be shown the fire escape map; younger children should be shown the emergency exit.
   - Scan the room at their level looking for other dangerous objects such as a bottle opener, coffee maker, iron etc.

Most of all have a great trip and make it fun, with a few favorite toys, some car games ( the old standards still work) and a balanced not too rushed itinerary. One of the benefits of a great family trip"and it does take advance planning and work"is that you children will want to continue traveling with you even through teen years and later. From my personal experience, my boys now 24 and 22 are still keen to join us ( work permitting) but now their motivation is that the trip is FREE.