We’ve had good trips, as well as those trips that leave you wanting to crawl into a hole nearby and avoid eye contact with any other adult human being. My children are normally obedient and respectful, but kids are sometimes unpredictable.

With that being said, I have come up with a lot of ways to make life easier, cleaner, and quieter while flying with young children. I hope you find that they are not your typical suggestions. I guarantee that you will be more relaxed and pull fewer hairs out of your head using these tips!

Remember to let go of the stress and have fun, and keep in mind that this trip will only last one day. It is important to be considerate of others, but you should not let your concern with what other people think of you as a parent make you or your children miserable. You should do everything you can to keep the kiddos quiet and civilized and leave your stress and concerns in God’s capable hands.

Flying with Young Kids

1. Have your kids carry their own bags. I know my kids love having little responsibilities and being able to carry/roll a bag just like Mommy and Daddy, so put some toys or snacks in a small bag for them to be responsible for.

2. When in the airport (before your first flight, but especially on a layover), let the kids run around! Don’t let them be obnoxious, of course, but let them burn up all that energy. They will be sitting still for a long time! Play tag in an empty area, go back and forth on those moving walkways, etc.

3. Have the kids use the restroom right before boarding whether or not they say they need to go. They may not feel like they need to right at that second, but 0.17 seconds after boarding or after the captain turns on the seat belt sign, they are sure to feel the urge.

4. If you are traveling with a spouse, it may be beneficial to have one parent board with as many carry-on bags as possible while the other parent walks around with the kids and boards with them last minute. No sense adding 20-30 minutes to the flight time while waiting for passengers to board and get seated.

5. Ask for some water as soon as you board the plane to mix with powdered formula, fill up the kids’ sippy cups, etc. You cannot take water through security, and the bottled water in an airport costs about the same as bottled water at an amusement park. Airport water fountains freak the germophobe in me out, so this is a good way to get water for free before the flight attendants offer drinks during the flight.

6. Give the window seats to the little ones. There will be so much to look at, especially during ascent and descent.

In Flight

7. This is not the time to be an electronics snob. Bring all the electronics you own that will hold your children’s attention and keep them quiet and busy. Playing computer games or watching shows for one day will not turn their brain to mush.

8. Play simple games that do not require any boards or pieces, such as I Spy.

9. Most Moms already know this, but if you are traveling with a baby, try to feed them during takeoff/landing to prevent ear pain. It may not be time for them to eat, so a pacifier is a good alternative option if they’ll take it.

10. Allow your kids to talk with those around them (under your supervision, of course) during boarding and take off. People are much less likely to get upset by noise or crying or whatever if they have previously been charmed by your adorable child.

11. If you are like me, I imagine airplanes to be covered in grime and germs like a NYC public transportation bus in a bad part of town, so I always wipe down the tray tables, seat belts, armrests, etc. with antibacterial wipes. Even if it does nothing, it gives me peace of mind, and I don’t cringe with disgust at all 39 times that my son puts down his tray table. They also work great for any spills or messes to clean up!

12. Finally, RELAX. Kids feed off of your stress like a horse “smells” a rider’s fear. (I’m not comparing your child to a horse, just making an analogy.) So, relax and have fun with them! It is an exciting day for them that they will possibly remember for the rest of their lives.

Be better prepared for flying with kids, check out 19 more tips.

I hope these tips give you some great ideas and make your next trip less stressful! Please comment below with any additional tips that have helped on your family trips. Or feel free to just tell us a hilarious traveling story that happened with your kids!

The post 30+ Tips for Flying with Kids first appeared on True Aim.

Tips for Flying with Preschoolers and Babies

Before take off, being prepared for the worst is always a good idea. Here are some great tips to help you know what to bring and how to be prepared for your children’s needs.

1. Probably the most important thing you can do in preparation of flying is make sure that your children know their full name, your full name, your cell phone number, your address, what to do if they get separated from you, and who to go to for help. I tell my kids that if they can’t find me, they should ask a woman with children to help them. Odds are that a fellow mom is a safe bet to get the proper help for them and less intimidating for them to approach and talk to.

2. Prepare your kids for what flying on an airplane will be like if it is their first time. Talk with them about the airport, security, seat belts on the airplane, etc. Get excited about the trip together! There are plenty of kids books about flying on an airplane available at the library as well.

3. Book your flights early if possible to ensure that you have seats together as a family! We usually fly on Southwest where seats are not assigned ahead of time, but they are on most airlines.

4. Pick a flight time (if you have options) around your kids’ schedule. This could be difficult with lots of children, but just choose a time that will set them up for success, whether that be flying at night or during nap time in hopes that they fall asleep, flying in the morning when they are adequately rested, etc. Morning flights are less likely to be delayed, so that may influence your decision.

5. Lay out comfy clothes for you and the kids for the day of travel, and be prepared for the weather in both your departure and arrival locations. This may mean layers for everyone that can be taken off or put on depending on the temperature. Remember that for the day, comfort trumps fashion. You will be sitting in a small seat for hours on end! Uncomfortable kids are cranky kids. (And an uncomfortable Momma is a cranky Momma, often with less patience.)

6. Have those comfy clothes include bright colors so that you and the kids are easy for each other to spot in the sea of people at the airport.

7. Pack early instead of packing at the last minute the night before. You can always add to the suitcases if you need to pack something that you use daily or have to do a load of laundry that you want to take with you. This will allow you to get sufficient sleep the night before, and taking care of yourself is important before a possibly stressful day of flying with little ones!

8. Ditch the diaper bag and use a backpack instead. They are much easier to carry, zip completely shut, and leave you with two hands free!

9. Make sure that any electronics you are bringing are fully charged, and don’t forget to bring the chargers with you.

10. Pack a few plastic grocery bags in your carry-on to use for trash. Somehow children manage to accumulate trash at a rate 62.7X faster than the average adult.

11. If you are traveling with a baby, pack ziplocs and a changing pad of some kind to place over the changing tables in the airport bathrooms and to use on the plane. Some planes to not have changing tables in the bathrooms, so you will need something for the seat or floor or whatever small corner you can find to change your baby with some dignity. The ziplocs come in handy for dirty diapers on the plane.

12. Pack individual servings of snacks in little baggies (or buy individual size snacks). This makes it much easier to grab for your little one, and there is a lesser chance of spilling on the plane. Or, if things do get spilled, it’s not an entire box of crackers.

13. Be sure to include some of your child’s favorite snacks on the menu for the day! It will be sure to put a smile on that cute little face no matter what is going on.

14. Pack lollipops, candies, gum, pacifiers, sippy cups, or whatever your child is allowed to have during takeoff and landing to suck on and keep them swallowing to help prevent their ears from hurting.

15. Pack some of their favorite small toys at least 3-7 days before your trip so that when you pull them out on the plane, they will be thrilled and play with them like they are new again. You could even buy a handful of cheap small toys at the dollar store that would then actually be new to them, too.

16. Here are some of my favorite travel toy ideas to pack in carry-on bags: finger puppets, books, nesting cups, stickers, pipe cleaners, crayons and coloring books, compact mirrors, toy cars, dolls/action figures, and a roll of blue painter’s tape. Tray tables make superb race tracks, stages, and canvases (for painter’s tape, not the crayons). Painter’s tape sticks onto anything but comes right off! Your kids can create some incredible tray table art with it.

17. Pack extra supplies (i.e. food, diapers, formula, etc.) in case of unexpected delays.

18. Pack your wallet, ID, and documents (such as birth certificates for children who are traveling on your lap) in a spot that is very easy to get to. It is a good idea to pack a copy of all of the kids’ birth certificates, just in case. It may also be a good idea to contact the airline to make sure that you have all required documentation.

19. Arrive at the airport with more than enough time to get checked in, through security, and to the gate. It will not help things to be rushing like chickens with your heads cut off in order to not miss your flight. Checking in, getting through security, and walking to the gate take longer with kids, and oftentimes it takes longer than you think it will.

Some of the best behaved children have their moments, especially when they are excited or anxious about flying. I hope that these tips will help you be better prepared to deal with anything that comes up so you can have a more peaceful flying experience!

Please leave a comment with your tip for preparing to fly with kids!

The post 19 Tips for Flying with Kids: Preparing for the Trip first appeared on True Aim.

Have you ever seen The Wilderness Family?  It’s a really fun movie that makes roughing it look like an extremely rewarding experience.  And it is!  Maybe that’s why millions of people go camping each year.

It’s not just about what you do when you camp that makes it exciting.  What you learn sticks with you.  Don’t you remember almost every camping trip you went on when you were a child?  I do!

There are so many things to learn while camping, like how to set up the camp site, how to start a fire, how to cook, and the list goes on.

Each family camps differently; there is no right or wrong way.  But, no matter how you camp, doing those things transfers even deeper lessons.

What’s Behind the Yellow Sign?

We camped at the KOA in Mountain Home, Idaho.  It was so easy to book my stay online to make sure I got exactly what I wanted.  While there, we got to stay in a one room cabin.  This was perfect for a family like ours with very young children.  We have a 5 month old baby and I wasn’t ready for tent camping even though there are great tent areas and even a Tipi.

Our cabin had a full sized bed, bunkbeds and came with wifi, air conditioning, and a heater just in case.  The showers and restrooms were just a few paces away which made it easy to clean up after a full day of exploring.

Values Children Learn From Camping

After arriving at our cabin and getting settled in, character training started right away

Meet and Greet

The playground was right across from our cabin so naturally that was the first thing the kids wanted to do.

Swinging, sliding, spinning to their hearts’ content, my children were immediately greeted by our friendly campground neighbors.  The merry-go-round was a hot spot and the children behaved beautifully with their new friends, my daughter volunteering to help push and everyone politely stopping the thing when others wanted to get on.  Sharing, cooperating, and empathizing was their first lesson.

Soon, it was time to say good by to their friends as dinner time snuck up on us.

Exploring Something New

As my husband finished cooking on the grill, I helped the kids up into the tree right outside our cabin.  They weren’t too high up, but it was enough to make my son a little weary.  The longer he stayed in the tree however, the more comfortable he became.

His sisters helped him feel more comfortable as they cautioned him if he was getting too close to the edge and reassuring him when a weird looking bug caught him off guard.  Confidence and independence was nurtured in their second lesson.

Let Them Go

After eating, we were relaxing in the swing on the porch of our cabin.  The kids desperately wanted to go back to the playground, but with full bellies, my husband and I weren’t too keen.

So we let them go by themselves.

We gave our eldest the reigns and put her in charge of her two younger siblings.  Hand-in-hand they walked to the play ground and beamed with excitement.  We could see them from the front porch of our cabin, but it was far enough away that our children felt like they were on their own.

Audrey did a fantastic job leading her siblings and took real ownership as their caretaker.  It was really rewarding to watch as responsibility was instilled in their final lesson.

There are so many more values and character building opportunities for children when you go on a camping trip.  The next time you go out, make sure you check out KOA and other families’ experiences.  With over 485 locations, you’re sure to find one close to you.  Download the KOA phone app so you’ll always know where a safe, family friendly campsite is.

To read more about all things camping, visit the KOA blog or follow Kampgrounds of America on Facebook.

Where is your favorite place to camp?

*I received a complimentary stay at a KOA via Kampgrounds of America.

The post Values Children Learn While Camping #CampKOA first appeared on True Aim.