Taking your kids on holiday as a single parent can be daunting, and as the only adult it can sometimes even be stressful or overwhelming. We’ve written a few tips and pieces of advice to travelling with kids as a single parent below.
Booking
When you look to buy holidays for your family, there often aren’t many options for single-parent family groups. However, persevere and look around as some operators or agents tend to offer deals for single-parent families with discounts or other great deals available, the key is to just shop around and do your research.
When you’re booking, think about what’s important for you and your family. If it includes socialising with other kids, make sure you book somewhere close to other family holiday homes so there’s someone of most age groups to socialise with.
Safety
One of the most over-looked aspects of travel is safety and travel insurance. Although it might seem boring and an unnecessary expense, but the thought of being abroad when your child falls ill or is seriously injured can be a really scary situation to find yourself in, especially if you’re alone.
Occasionally, accidents do happen and you can find yourself in an emergency medical situation. Should this happen, this is when people see the real benefit of travel insurance, it not only covers the cost of lost luggage and cancelled holidays, but can offer you great benefits like emergency medical helplines open every single hour of every day to give you the help and advice you need to get through the circumstances. Again, some travel insurance companies do single-parent discounts and can give you great deals for your kids and travelling as a family.
Be prepared
Remember to pack plenty of snacks for your holiday. Travelling with kids can be stressful at the best of times, even when they’re not tired and hungry, so pack a few long-life snacks and this should get you through most days on the road or in queues waiting for attractions to open up. Drinks, plastic bags and wet wipes can also be really useful, especially if you have younger kids.
Make a list of all the things you want to take long before you pack and depart for your holiday. This way, if you think of anything randomly you can just add it to the list to pack later on.
Enjoy it!
Remember that this holiday is not only for your children, it’s for you too. By dividing your holiday time between doing things that you all enjoy, activities that your children enjoy and things that you enjoy, which could include time to yourself, making make sure everyone gets an equal say in what they do and the holiday plans.
