By Renee Martinez, Founder of Raising Boys World
Traveling with your children is all about planning, patience and organization.
With energetic boys, your work is cut out for you, so this article can help you along the way. If you implement a few key strategies, you’ll agree that travel isn’t as stressful as you might have thought, regardless of your child’s age. Since many young boys have ants in their pants, especially when they’re excited, you will need to plan well in advanced so you’re prepared.
If your children are of school age, get them involved with research. First agree on a few destinations, and then assign each child a place to research. Define the parameters for them to make their work easy. Such as; places of interest, things to do, and interesting facts. If your children are older, they might even be able to help with accommodations and transportation information for their assigned destination. Whereas, if your children are preschoolers, they can sit with you as you search the Internet for information. Set a deadline and hold a family meeting to discuss the findings.
While travel with preschoolers may seem daunting, it’s really not that scary at all. It’s important not to over pack, so begin preparing your list of what you’d like to bring well in advance. As the trip grows near, review that list and establish what is a need vs. a want. Keep your wants to a minimum. If your children are under four, find a lightweight bag to pack your “wants” in and keep in your carry on luggage.
Older children can have their own backpack filled with parent-approved items to keep them busy. Other important items to bring for young children include, a stuffed animal or blanket and a collapsible stroller. And of course, snacks! I give each child a few snacks in their bags. I try to manage what they eat and when so as to stretch their longevity.
I buy a few inexpensive new items and bring some older books and magazines for them as well. Crayons, paper, and word or picture search are great for travel. Make sure the fun bags aren’t too heavy for the children to carry or you’ll wind up with extra baggage you didn’t plan for.
The bottom line is that when people of any age are out of their element, they can feel uncomfortable as their routine is disrupted. Try to maintain your routine while still embracing the opportunity for fun and adventure. Traveling with your children provides for a foundation of memories that will last for years to come.
About the Author: Renee Martinez consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK, on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in the internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire.
Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
