Caribbean Travel With Your Kids

Leaky diapers, temper tantrums, tablecloths getting pulled off at the restaurant, spilled drinks, food particles everywhere…. Oh yes, traveling with kids is not without risks. The circumstances listed are only very few compared to the number of things that could go wrong when you travel to the Caribbean with the kids.

However, years later when the kids are all off to college, you look back or look at old pictures and you find that the best memories of your kid’s young years are family trips. So how do you make your Caribbean vacation a trip to remember with your kids for years to come?

Here is a step by step guide to help ensure that your time in the Caribbean with your kids is one of the best times of your life.

STEP 1 --- Preparation Time

Aside from the usual clothes to bring during a long trip to a tropical island, bring lots and lots of snacks. Candy bars will do as well as chips, biscuits, chocolates, drinks, the whole gizmo. And really, you should never forget amusements, too, which should come in particularly handy on long plane rides.

Below are some of our suggestions on fun stuff your kids can do during the plane trip to the Caribbean. We have divided them into categories addressed to specific age groups.

For Babies:

Babies are easily attracted to bright colors and sounds so basically any object that is bright and new should do the trick. Things that make rattling sounds could also work, as well as music-makers and pop-up toys. Other things you can bring are:

• Mega-blocks (not necessarily the entire set; a few pieces will do)

• Magnetic stick-together blocks

• Toys of interesting shapes

• Safe plastic mirrors

For Toddlers:

More active, with a better grasp on how things are done, toddlers tend to need stuff that is completely different from what a baby would need. Be sure to pack any of the following:

• Bubbles (not while on the plane; use in the airport or during flight changes)

• Balls

• Small wind-up toys

• Toys that “talk” – baby push buttons to activate the speak option (not too loud)

• Busy boxes with levers, bells, moving parts

• Board books

• Things that can be placed inside containers

Pre-Schoolers

Kids around this age have a more sophisticated way of having fun than the toddler. You can occupy their attention by giving them picture books, stickers, activity books to busy themselves with. Lap-sized wipe-off easels will also help and for girls, you can give them small mirrors and costume jewelry to play with.

Other things you can bring:

• Finger puppets

• Paper punch

• Inexpensive sets of plastic figures (inexpensive because small items such as these tend to get easily misplaced)

• Snacks, wrapped presents (they can have fun unwrapping them)

• Magnetic letters and metal tin

• Pop-up books

• Post-it notes

Virtually anything can be used to amuse kids around this age. Just be sure that they don’t harm themselves with any of these things, e.g. accidental swallowing.

For Older Kids

This is for kids who have been to grade school already and know how to read and write. Prior to the trip, try visiting a good kid’s bookstore and get real books that are nice and short and small enough to store in your kid’s backpack. Comic books and puzzle books are also good alternatives.

The great thing about visiting a kid’s bookstore these days is they usually have a non-book section somewhere inside where you can get all sorts of fun stuff for your older kid, including high-quality games like Hangman and Xs & Os, monopoly (there’s a travel-size version), Sorry, Snakes ‘n’ Ladders, Battleships, Speak ‘n’ Spell, miniature chess, etc.

STEP 2  --- Schedule, Schmedule

The underlying lesson here is: Don’t try to do too much! Even if your Caribbean vacation is only for a few days, don’t squeeze everything in. Don’t even let the thought enter your brain. Schedule your things-to-do with the kids beforehand. Before the trip, if possible. It’s always good to plan ahead. That way you’ll know what to expect and you’ll know how to handle your kids in case they get restless for new activity.

Sometimes, when the kids prove difficult, you tend to make hasty decisions when it comes to fun activities they can join in. The activities might turn out to be dangerous for kids, or they might turn out to be expensive, causing you to go way over budget for your Caribbean vacation. If you prepare your schedule of activity beforehand, you maximize safety and minimize the risk of going over budget.

Here’s a tip to scheduling your activities with the kids: Try to make room for only one activity every morning, or afternoon. If all goes well, you can then perhaps slip in a second activity for your kids to enjoy. However, don’t mention the second activity until you’re certain. Avoid disappointing the kids, because really, that could cause another cycle of problems.

STEP 3 --- Nap Time

Well, there’s time for fun and there’s time for sleep. Step 3 of the Caribbean travel with kids guide also means allowing extra time in the day for you and your kids to rest or “nap.” You can’t have them running around the beach the whole day and you probably can’t keep up with their boundless energy, so better to set a time to go wild and a time to unwind – both for your sake and your kids’.

STEP 4 --- Before, Not After

Experienced moms who’ve been traveling back and forth the Caribbean with their kids for some time now will tell you that the key to controlling your kids is to pre-empt. Anticipate their wants and needs – isn’t that what mothers do? While on your Caribbean vacation, offer snacks and drinks before kids get too hungry or thirsty. Let them take a break before they get overtired. This is one way of avoiding temper tantrums on kids.

In addition to that, watch out for those small but tell-tale signs that your kids need a rest. You know, that change in tone, that particular frown, that set to the mouth…. As the old saying goes “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” that line of thought is particularly apt when it comes to avoiding temper tantrums in kids while traveling.

Here are some more tips to keeping your Caribbean vacation with the kids fun and tantrum-free:

• Reflect what the child is feeling by saying lines like, “I know you feel really bad that…”

• Acknowledge the frustration by admitting that “it’s so hard because…”

• Try solving the problem with fantasy, like “what if…?”

• Then, give the child a chance to find a solution to the problem.

STEP 5 --- An Abundance of Patience

This cannot be overemphasized. If you want your Caribbean vacation to be fun with the kids, then you need a whole lot of patience in spades with you. Try to remember that you’re on vacation so things that would have normally bothered you shouldn’t bother you now. Relax. Take a deep breath. And just take in the sound of your kid bawling because he slipped in the sand and don’t feel stressed about it.

One key to increasing your patience while traveling to the Caribbean with the kids is to understand them. Some kids are easier to travel with than others. Some can adapt to change readily and go with the flow. Others can balk at the issue and can be very stubborn to the point of manipulative. Try to distinguish between these two species of temper tantrums – the genuinely frustrated kind and the manipulative kind. Both really requires a more passive assistance from you.

STEP 6 --- Play

That’s what a Caribbean vacation with the kids is all about. Play in the sun. Play in the water. Play in the rainforests on your way through a hiking trail. Play in the pool. Play in the oceanfront hotel room you’re staying at. Play, play, play. Have fun with the kids and forget your worries.

Just remember that if worse comes to worst, even the really bad moments of your Caribbean travel with the little ones can be among the very precious once they’ve grown up and turned into large-sized kids!