If there’s one thing that’s always filled me with anxiety - it’s taking my kids on a holiday.
It feels silly to admit now - but unlike most families who rip the band-aid off early - we never travelled with our first child. By the time she moved out of her colicky phase - think screaming for what felt like every waking hour - we then discovered she hated the car. My anxiety made me feel like we couldn’t travel long distances with her on the road - and I couldn’t bring myself to make other passengers deal with the screaming on a plane. And after finally getting her to sleep through the night after what felt like endless regressions - I was too scared to change up her routine in case sleep went out the window. So we went almost two years with no holidays - before our second born arrived.
Then, something clicked in me and I realized I didn’t want to miss out on making memories while my kids were small. So on a long weekend, we booked a beach shack with our best friends, and headed down the coast.
Here’s how it actually went:
The drive
I’d been really stressed about the drive and the potential for a tantrum in the back seat. But after running her ragged with a morning at the park, we popped both kids I the car and crossed our fingers. We brought our Yoto - which I credit with recently making my toddler actually tolerate the car - and some of her favorite books. About 30 minutes into our two hour road trip, both kids were asleep. I could not believe it. First hurdle - accomplished!
The beach
I need to be honest here. Spending the afternoon at the beach with a toddler and a baby was kind of overstimulating. I’d envisioned laying my baby on a towel in the beach shelter and having him fall into a deep sleep - the sounds of the ocean acting like a natural white noise machine - and then heading down to the water to splash about with my toddler. Instead, he was extremely fussy due to the bright sun and the wind, would cry whenever he was put down, and wouldn’t settle for anyone but me. Our toddler needed constant supervision as she had the confidence of an Olympic diver despite never having a swimming lesson (whoops). My Portier Limitless Baby Carrier ended up being the MVP of the afternoon - I ended up going on a long walk in the sand to get my baby to sleep while my husband supervised our toddler.
The sleep situation
We’d booked a three bedroom house to share with four adults and three kids - so we decided that my husband and I would take one kid each. We brought our Mamas and Papas Lua bedside crib for the baby which was so easy to pack down and reassemble - and my husband set it up next to his bed. I took another bedroom with my toddler who I assumed would happily co-sleep with me. But she’s a stubborn one - and very used to her own sleep space - so insisted on sleeping on a fold out futon we’d found in the room. Only after she fell off the futon in the middle of the night did she agree to co-sleep for the rest of the trip. Both kids woke multiple times each night - but with slow starts to the day we were able to manage the broken sleep.
The tantrums
As a type A mum - I’d planned every moment of our trip to a tee. The long weekend was supposed to culminate in a trip to a u-pick strawberry farm. How cute! I thought. I even packed my daughter a strawberry themed outfit. But the morning of our long awaited adventure - I was truly humbled. My toddler wet herself - and despite bringing what I felt was half her wardrobe with us - we were out of clean clothes. I had no choice but to dress her in her pajamas for what I had been hoping would be an adorable strawberry patch photoshoot. She then proceeded to have a tantrum to end all tantrums AFTER we paid for entry to the fields. As rain began to fall - causing the baby strapped to my chest to also crack it - we decided to pull the pin. We begged for a refund, dragged our kicking and screaming toddler back past all the other happy families, and promptly drove home. It just wasn’t meant to be! Overall - we had a great time on our first trip as a family of four - and when we got back I logged onto Instagram to post some happy snaps - with some realistic captions.
My DMs were quickly flooded with other parents - sharing similar stories, funny moments and valuable advice about traveling with kids.
I’ll leave some of those tips here - for any other anxious mums about to embark on their first trip.
- Forget schedules and roll with the punches
- Bring your mum or mother in law if you can
- Traveling with toddlers is parenting in a different place without all your stuff
- Don’t panic when they don’t sleep well the first two nights - they’ll come right
- You have to expect your holidays not to be holidays
- Our toddler loves her Yoto in the car when we have to drive a long way!
- Accept the fact before you go that you will need a holiday - after your holiday
Traveling with kids definitely requires you to be flexible, resilient and a willingness to embrace change. Despite the bumps in the road, I’m so glad we finally booked the trip. It was a learning experience for my kids - but perhaps more importantly myself - and I now can’t wait to plan our next adventure.
Estelle Griepink is a Melbourne based TV news reporter and new mum to two under two. Between chasing down breaking news stories - and wrangling two small children. She shares her honest reflections on motherhood on Instagram @estellegriepink
