I don’t know where I heard it but I’ve adopted the moniker that traveling with small children is not a vacation but parenting in a different location. Your kids will still interrupt you while you’re trying to have a conversation with anyone but them and they will whine that you absolutely have to buy them some useless knickknack (and if your kids don’t ever do that… then I hate you just a little bit… haha). For that reason, I highly recommend taking a vacation without them to recharge your batteries. Despite the strains of parenting, I also vehemently support taking a trip WITH your kids every year as well. They have a different way of view things and pointing out sites you may have missed traveling on your own. Their wonder at the things they discover are priceless and there’s lots of discovery in travel!

For example, we just took my kids to Spain. They weren’t super excited about going to Sagrada Familia. However, we were able to point out that it looked like the sand castle in the distance and they were a little intrigued. I had some small toy trucks that they could play with as we worked our way through the security line but it moved pretty quickly. I thought the exterior would attract their attention but it wasn’t until we passed by the doors on the Nativity facade that they found their favorite part. We spent 20 minutes exploring those doors. They loved searching for the various insects and animals hidden in the metalwork. The tree of life motif was like a life-sized Highlights picture search. I could easily have walked by it without them. They agreed to continue exploring more but all of my videos of the interior have the kids in the background asking to go back to the doors.

I had been to Madrid before. As someone who studied history and art, the Prado was at the top of my “Must See” list. When traveling with small boys, I had no plans to try to see it. If your kids love art museums, awesome! Put it on your agenda. My boys love all things transportation so I made sure to have plenty of those throughout our Spanish adventure. There were trains, buses, funiculars, cable cars, and tuk-tuk tours to strike their fancy. We also threw in some Roman ruins, castles, hikes, fountains and playgrounds. The key was a balance of interests for the whole family.

The kids got to “drive” the tuk tuk themselves on our return.

There was a great article in Conde Nast Traveler about the various types of travel options depending on the kids ages. Don’t let the long flight scare you (my 3 year old was actually better behaved than my 6 year). A flight from the east coast to Europe is similar to a transcontinental flight… Think about it.

People ask me why I’m taking them when they may not remember the trip. If they won’t remember this, they won’t remember Disney either and I might as well have more fun. More importantly, it really expands their worldview. We were able to use our most recent trip to Spain as an example of respecting our differences and being open to trying new things. Yay for teachable moments. I also did a little victory dance when my son brought home a New Year project listings 2023 resolutions and favorite things from 2022. Our trip to Spain made the list! #parentingwin