Travel with Kids

Traveling Families: 7 Tips for Traveling with Boys

Traveling With Boys: 7 Tips From Our Family’s Earlier Travels

Last updated: October 30, 2026. Edited for clearer tips, historical family context, and qualifications for travel-day activities, food, and lodging.

This article was first published in November 2019. The children’s ages, family routines, and trip costs below describe our earlier travels.

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Parents of traveling families earn a special merit badge on their parenting sash. It’s no small feat to travel as an adult and requires lots of planning and patience (not to mention the financial commitment). Add children and you’ve got another level of difficulty. Actually, many levels. Clothing, equipment, entertainment… it can all feel overwhelming when you are trying to fit family life into a traveling package.

Watch the original related father-and-son waterpark film on YouTube. This is a separate family outing linked from this article.

With three boys ages four to eight and a year and a half of full-time travel behind us, we had learned a few ways to make our travel days easier. Those ages and that stage of our family describe the earlier travels in this article. These are the things that helped us: room to move, a little imagination, something to listen to, and plenty of snacks!

1. Make time for movement

Our boys needed time to run. Or jump. Or wrestle. Or all three at the same time. Finding a suitable place for that energy mattered even more before a plane or train journey, when they would be sitting still, waiting, and trying to be patient. My daily question became: how can I give my boys a chance to move today? It was just as useful on vacation.

If it’s a travel day, see whether you can make time outside before your flight or road trip. A park or another suitable activity can help break up the day. In an airport, look for a designated play area and keep games away from moving walkways, stairs, and busy passenger routes. Our boys enjoyed turning an activity into a competition, but the setting needs to be suitable. On a road trip, stop somewhere safe where the children can move around. If a beach stop fits your plans, having swimsuits, towels, and fresh clothes ready can make it easier to let them get messy for a while.

2. Use their imagination to your advantage

If your boys are like mine, they literally live in another world in their minds.  Talking to them is like muting a running TV show and is difficult for them to focus.  If they are getting grumpy or not liking an activity, turn it into a game for them.  When our kids were getting tired on the Great Wall of China, we pretended armies of witches and zombies (our approved targets for violence) were swarming the wall and the boys needed to fight back.  What a turn-around!  A boring adult walk turned into an intense battle and so much fun for my boys.  The same could be done in a museum (find all the color red in this room!  The one with the most gets the first ice cream), waiting in line or a walking tour of a city. This is my biggest life hack for traveling families with boys!

3. Bring an audiobook

I really can’t recommend these enough, especially for road trips.  My boys HATE to drive anywhere until there is an audiobook.  Then they are begging me to get back in the car!  Need some ideas?  Check out my list here.  We loved working our way through this list.  It’s more difficult if you don’t have a car, but we’ve also listened to our audiobooks (just on mom’s phone) in taxis and trains (if noise is permitted). For us, it also meant less fighting in the car: bonus!

4. Keep snacks within reach

Our boys could be asking for food again when it felt as though we had only just finished cleaning up! We had MANY days when we thought we would find a meal during sightseeing or a travel day, then ran out of time or could not find what we needed. Keeping snacks handy made a difference for us. Our favorites included nuts, cheese, jerky, and granola bars; choose food that suits your children and your journey. We also tried to have simple food such as bread, peanut butter, cereal, and milk available where we stayed. The useful part was having a plan for food, rather than expecting every family to follow a fixed number of meals or snacks.

5. Book with your children in mind

If booking an Airbnb or another rental, read the listing carefully and ask the host whether the home is suitable for your children. We had booked places that did not work well for young boys and paid some steep repair bills afterward—our Portugal experience was over €900! That was a cost from our past travels, not a typical charge to budget for. For a hotel, check whether the kids’ club, pool, or play area you want is currently available and suitable for your children. Look at where you will be staying and whether there is a nearby park. Some of our rentals had toys, plastic plates, and cups; ask what is actually provided rather than assuming.

6. Be patient with pictures

You are on vacation and will want to document it! Set your expectations low. 🙂 Our boys did not always want to sit still for pictures, so a perfect family photo was not something I could count on. Planning ahead helped, but sometimes the silly picture was the one we got. Leave room for that, too.

7. Leave room for imperfect moments

  This comes with all parenting and is no different when you are a traveling family.  You’ve just got to own it all.  Own the tantrums, own the time outs.  I’ve put Harrison in time out worldwide…. In crowded downtown streets in Asia, in restaurants, in museums, in amusement parks.  He screams, he cries, he sometimes tries to run and I have to hold him in place.  It’s OK.  I just smile at everyone walking by and get mostly smiles or chuckles in return.  You have EVERY RIGHT to be there, even with a screaming kid.  An upset child does not mean your family does not belong on holiday. Take a breather when you need one, then come back to the day.  It’s just part of parenting and everyone should be applauding you for trying.  You are giving your boys (and girls) wonderful memories.  When I get really embarrassed, I just remember that all those scornful adults were kids once too and gave their parents heck.  They don’t remember, but they did.  Don’t stress it and don’t let it ruin your vacation when you have a few bad moments with your kiddos.  I PROMISE the good memories will be the ones that stick in your memory when it’s all done and you are back home.

Finally, to my fellow traveling families, remember a few points:

• In the end, bribery works wonders. Ice cream later, a quick fruit snack for being good on a train ride, etc. Parenting runs on bribery half the time 🙂
• Prepping your boys for what to expect that day or in the next few hours can go so far. We have weekly planning meetings on Sunday nights, prep talks before we leave the house and often quick reminders before we go inside somewhere. Knowing what comes next helped our children understand what we were asking of them. 🙂
• Don’t repeat yourself more than once when asking something of your boys. If they didn’t listen the first time, be sure to make eye contact and some gentle physical touch to get their attention and then repeat your request. When we get in the habit of just asking and asking and then yelling, all while our boys (and girls) ignore us, it leads to major frustration.
• Soak up those memories and enjoy!  

Love to my fellow traveling families,

Leslie

Additional Reading

MY TOP 10 MUST-HAVE TRAVEL PRODUCTS FOR FAMILY TRAVEL

THE TECHNOLOGY WE TRAVEL WITH: TECH PACKING LIST

WORLDSCHOOL PACKING LIST: 20 MUST-HAVE ITEMS