by Lori Lite
Travel stress does not need to be part of your family road trip. With a little planning you can lower travel stress and build a lifetime of memories for everyone. Simple tips for parents and children make it easy to head off travel meltdowns and empower everyone to handle travel stress. Here are just a few of my favorite tips to make your road trip stress free.
Tips to lower travel stress
- Routine & Sleep – Make sure the children are well rested the night before. A well-rested child is a happier, calmer, well-balanced child.
- Relax & Laugh – Leave extra time for your trip. Make sure you have time to enjoy the journey. Stop for a picnic, stop to blow bubbles, or even fly a kite.
- Be Creative & Empower – Make sure to give each of your kids their own camera. It will empower them to document their journey and encourage creativity.
- Set Goals – Set a time goal for good behavior in the car. And when you reach your goal, be sure to celebrate. Everyone’s happy when you stop for an ice cream treat.
- Be Prepared – If you’re traveling with younger children, be sure to pack a potty. It will save you lots of stress.
- Breathe – And remember, when all else fails, you can always take a deep breath and say, “Ahhh.”
Bon voyage! Have a great trip!
Indigo Dreams CD Series introduces your family to breathing for relaxation.
Stress Free Kids founder Lori Lite is a freelance blogger, social media strategist, parenting expert, and successful entrepreneur. Her line of books and CDs are designed to help children, teens, and adults decrease stress, anxiety, and anger. Ms. Lite’s books, CDs, and lesson plans are considered a resource for parents, psychologists, therapists, child life specialists, teachers, doctors, and yoga instructors. Lori’s award winning books received national attention on Shark Tank and her sort after accessible tips have been featured in hundreds of publications to include: CNN Living, Real Simple Magazine, USA Today, Family Circle, Working Mother Magazine, and Web MD. For more information visit Stress Free Kids and for daily advice follow Lori on Twitter and Facebook.
I love the idea of the camera. I would also add get each child to put some activities in a rucksack so they have things they want to do on the journey and make them responsible for looking after them.
Is the background of the video is a wood-tank? joke 🙂
Anyways, I don’t agree on the tip number #2 which is to laugh. Still laughing is the beginning of stress. Instead, I highly recommend to sleep rather than laughing in terms of lessening stress that I might get on the journey.
_Tim
Great ideas Lori. I’d add to your list to pack healthy snacks. Many meltdowns can be avoided if a child is not feeling irritable.
Vincent | CuteMonster.com
All good stuff, but let me add two words… finger puppets. It builds on their imagination and often allows the parents occasional involvement. My girls love them… and so do I. They can be purchased most anywhere or better yet, as a hobby pre-trip, make them together as a family.