At what age does traveling with your kids become fun?

[Anonymous]

You, my friend, are not on vacation. You are on a trip.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vacation-or-trip-a-helpful-guide-for-parents_b_7789310

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say youngest 4-5 as well. Not having to plan around a nap or drag a stroller is critical.

+1 on the not needing to plan around nap times or use a stroller.

I have always enjoyed traveling with my kids even when they were younger. My youngest was tough to travel with when he was younger because he did not sleep well when we traveled but he got 100x better around age 2 and everything was pretty good from there. But once he was 4-5 travel got even easier.

+1 In the moment I didn't think that much about it, but the photo memories are amazing and I remember how much fun it was. I wouldn't trade it for anything. But now my DCs are 17 and younger. It's so easy to travel and lots of fun. I'm also grateful for the memories when it was harder.

It's more expensive now though, for sure. Teens hate sharing beds.

[Anonymous]

Twin girls.
It was a lot of fun from 5-11 - we went to Costa Rica, Ireland, Aruba/Caribbean, England, Morocco, several trips out west to visit national parks/family, South Dakota (SD is a fantastic trip with kids - highly recommend!) Hawaii, Disney (once - Disney is too much $$$). The kids got used to traveling and we (mostly) had a great time. In fact, my husband was often more of a pain in the neck to deal with than the kids.

Now they are 13, and for the past year they both hate us and only want to be with their friends. Not fun anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 1.5 and 3 and traveling with them is exhausting. When does it get better?

Parenting those ages away from home is very challenging unless your kids are very chill.

totally depends on your kids. I find now that mine are tweens it’s much harder because they have very strong preferences and little tolerance for boredom. When they were little, they just wanted to be with me and going to a park was activity enough for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Between 7 and 14 then it gets bad again.

Not mine. I have a 10 and a 13 year old. Their venn diagram of preferred activities is two circles a thousand feet apart.

[Anonymous]

If your kids are on a rigid schedule and you cater to their every whim, then they will always drive the plans…

Your kids are still young, but once they are in preschool, you should be able to travel more easily. Once they are reliably toilet trained, game on.

You will be best served if you are able to equip them to be good travelers: flexible, curious, and happy to be on vacation with the family.

[Anonymous]

I have traveled with my now-18-year-old since she was a month old and travel has mostly been fun at all ages. When she was very small it was a lot of work -- so much stuff! -- and over time it got much easier. (Big milestones included no longer needing to bring a car seat on the airplane, no longer needing a stroller, pulling her own carry-on bag, happily reading by herself on plane trips ....) But that work didn't make it not fun, and I found the fun part really depended on my attitude. When I was happy hanging out at a playground in London, or taking a kid-scaled hike at Mt Rainier, or doing the "family trail" of paintings with animals in a famous museum, traveling was lots of fun. When I pushed to do a longer hike, or wanted to spend more time in an art gallery, or insisted on going to particular historical sites, things could get less fun quickly. So managing my own expectations for a trip was important. It was also important to adjust to traveling with a surly teenager and get them excited about where we were going/what we were doing, but that stage is a ways off for you.

I agree with PPs that another big factor is how well the kid travels and if they enjoy or abhor new experiences -- and luckily my DD is a good traveler -- but I found managing my own expectations was the key to enjoying travel with a small child. Hang in there!

[Anonymous]

It’s all about adjusting to their interests and having realistic expectations. Your teens might get cranky and it’s ok. They need down time/rest and good food & they are set.

[Anonymous]

I agree with youngest being 5, but this year my kids are 13, 11 and 8 and we’ve been having the greatest vacations! I want to get as many done as possible in the next year or two. I know when they are older we won’t have as much time, and they’ll have other interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kids are on a rigid schedule and you cater to their every whim, then they will always drive the plans…

Your kids are still young, but once they are in preschool, you should be able to travel more easily. Once they are reliably toilet trained, game on.

You will be best served if you are able to equip them to be good travelers: flexible, curious, and happy to be on vacation with the family.

I agree generally it does get easier as they get older, and yes "equipping them to be flexible, curious", etc is great. But frankly you sound like someone who just got easy kids. One of ours is very much like that. One is very much not even though we tried to equip him to be "flexible, curious", etc. One of my siblings was the same way when we were kids. 2 of us always happy for trips, excited to explore, etc. The other one not so much, and now not as a 40+ adult. Some people just aren't like that, or are on the spectrum, etc The idea that it's solely up to you as a parent is something parents of easy kids tell themselves.

[Anonymous]

Always? We went to Europe and Asia with our toddlers to visit family. Good times. But I'm the sort to plan vacations with kids' comfort in mind, and adjust to their needs. Now they're 20 and 15, and just had another lovely vacation with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s all about adjusting to their interests and having realistic expectations. Your teens might get cranky and it’s ok. They need down time/rest and good food & they are set.

+1 to the downtime, the advantage of being older is that they can stay up late, so we always try to do a mid afternoon rest. Usually my husband and I go to the pool or take a nap. Our teen reads, takes a walk or goes to the gym. Then we come back together for dinner and an evening activity.

[Anonymous]

I only took my kids to the beach a three hour drive away until they were both in ES. No need to torture yourself with flights and airports and crying, tired children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 1.5 and 3 and traveling with them is exhausting. When does it get better?

Depends on the number. With 2, probably when the youngest is four. For us, three was a grind but it became a blast when the youngest was about 6.

[Anonymous]

Never. And we travel internationally with our kids twice yearly. It’s never going to be as magical or romantic as traveling with just your husband. My kids are good eaters, walk long distances well and fall asleep easily. But they don’t appreciate art museums, hate historic homes and aren’t interested in anything medieval. And after long days they aren’t interested in staying up past 9 so we miss a lot of the nightlife we used to enjoy.

I love my kids btw!! Our best trips have been anything nature, like national parks, or amusement parks like Disney or universal. Universal with express passes has been our best trips yet. But none of those trips compare to vacations that dh and I used to have.

It’s not a vacation with kids, it’s a trip.