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Travel Tips for Dads with Toddlers

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By Paul Banas   Print
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Summer is here and time is right for dancing in the streets. Well, maybe not, if you have little kids under your supervision. But thatdoesn’t mean you can’t have a great vacation with kids. In so many ways, time off with kids is more meaningful and enriching than a week on the beach without them ever could be.

The first rule of thumb for planning any family adventure is to figure out what will work for the entire family. Normally, I’m not one for saying that having kids should hold you back from doing the things you love to do. To the un-ending misery of fellow travelers, we took our babies on 12 hour plane trips to the other side of the world where we let them sleep on our laps while we ate long gourmet meals. We refused to let their tiny existence ruin our plans, and they often did not throw up or even break too many things. But now that they are older and have opinions and their own desires, we have to admit that things are more complicated.   
Here are a few things we learned along the way:

Traveling with Toddlers

I’ll surprise you when I say that a trip to Disneyland, World, or other orb, is a must-do for any dad with a three to four year old. To see a child enter into magic kingdom before they are old enough to understand gross commercialism is enough to truly make any 40 year old man feel like a kid again. Miss it during these years and you may as well skip it for life. After five, it just becomes a junk food fueled whinerama quelled only by purchase of a $40 snow globe or goofy hat (whether literally Goofy or not).

Resist the temptation to plan long road trips, visiting ante bellum mansions in the South, or long drives to see our nation’s Baseball parks with a toddler. Toddlers do not hold up well in car unless under anesthesia and no amount of Backyardigans videos will temper their road nausea once they have experienced it.  You do not want to be 1000 miles from home when your child gets sick. Once it happens, you will get a reminder of that feeling about every 500 yards.

Surprisingly, big cities make good vacations with little kids since you can often walk them around different spots, sticking them in strollers. New York, Boston, San Francisco and Chicago are great cities for walking holidays that provide a lot to see just by wandering from place to place on foot. Unfortunately, most other U.S. cities are too spread out to tour in this way.

To read travel tips for dads with older children, click  Travel Tips for Dads with Kids
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Article List
Traveling with Dad
Vacation Getaways for Kids and Dads - Part II
Vacation Getaways for Kids and Dad - Part I
Must-See Places in America for Dads and Kids
Travel Tips for Dads with Toddlers
Travel Tips for Dads with Teens
Travel Tips for Dads with Kids
Travel Tips for Dads with Babies
Travel Agent Tips for Dads and Kids
Thomas’ Great Race Game for Kids 3+
Guess Who Travel Game
Of Traveling With Babies and Spouses
Five Stuff-Free Games to Play in the Car During Long Trips

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