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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]For us, we limit to simple trips (drive or domestic flight) to see other people. We do as much as possible to make them as logistically easy for us, and we are adamant about sleeping arrangements and staying on their sleep schedule to the largest degree possible (though when we had a two-napper, morning nap was often in the stroller).

So, we visit family and friends and do beach trips with family and friends, and that’s it. Kids are 3.5 and 2 and that’s still our jam.

That being said, this is a VERY personal decision, and it took me a few years of parenting to drop the guilt on this. Your kids do NOT need or want travel when they are still at napping age. I honestly think there are no benefits to them directly at these ages. But it’s also not bad for them - it’s completely neutral (as long as it isn’t so frequent and so sleep disruptive as to lead to them becoming perma-exhausted, which would be extreme). Which means if YOU want to travel, if those logistics sound fun or worth it to you, do it! If it sounds like repeatedly pouring lemon juice on a fresh paper cut, then don’t. Really. If Morocco sounds great, and everyone’s like “omg you are crazy,” tell them to f*ck off and go! If the idea of taking your 3 year old to grandmas for the weekend sounds like more than you can handle, then don’t go. Grandma can come to you or wait until you’re ready. Really. There are no awards for this. As far as travel, do what keeps you and your partner happy, fulfilled and sane, and the kids will be fine either way.

One more note on the “none of this is universal” front: the attitude I’ve seen above is common - traveling with an infant is easy because they’re portable, then it’s hard from 1-2.5, then it gets easier. But for me that is absolutely not the case. So far, for both kids, improvement has been remarkably linear. We took a simple Christmas trip to see helpful family a reasonable drive away when my youngest was a newborn and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. I hated absolutely every second of it. For me personally, I would never ever do a trip with an under 5 month old again. And we severely limit trips under age 1, as those are still a struggle. But I do much better with the 1-2.5 age range, to me it just gets easier and easier as they get older, I never experienced a dip. [/quote]

Thank you for this. I think there is some weird guilt that I'm working to pinpoint[/quote]

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